Dragonflies
by TheaSong956
Summary: Althea Vinet of the noble Vinet household has lived a life of rules. As she is about to be forced into the marriage that will protect Hyrule, she is attacked by evil but saved by a boy clad in green. Soon, they must race throughout Hyrule to find a way to defeat this new evil while dodging others who are all after the mysterious, dormant power within her. Link x OC on hiatus!
1. Dreams

**Author's Note: Okay, a little about the story...**

**I've been writing fanfiction for a few years, but I never had the guts to publish it. I've been reading fanfiction here from many great and talented authors and I admired their work. Finally, I gained the courage to create an account. So this is a little Link x OC fanficion. I'm hoping to really dive into the world of the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. My aim is not only to write a good story, but also explore the people and the world in detail that the game might not have covered, while rediscovering the land of Hyrule. I've already planned out the plot and have several chapters already written ahead of time. As you might as well have guessed, I'm pretty nervous to publish my work here for people to read. So, please review! I'd love for all of you great writers out there to give me some helpful tips to make the story the best it can be for readers! Chapters will be posted once a week on Friday, and posts will be consistent. I really hope you enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoy writing it! So...without further ado, here it is!**

**I'm not sure whether this is required but, I do not own the Legend of Zelda or it's characters. I only own my original characters.**

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_Dreams_

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A loud scream of pain and agony ripped through the air over the land. One filled with defeat and the promise of dark revenge as sweet yet malicious as a poisonous flower. Then, he fell with a deafening 'thud'- the sword of the hero still lodged within his chest. Like how many warriors wished, life fled his body before he met the ground. As his breath escaped his cold, cruel lips for the last time, along with his life, another thing dear to him also left. It remained alive as it exited his body and stayed invisible as it hovered over the scene. It's siblings were close by, within the two Hylians standing over it's previous host. Now, it was looking for a new host. One worthy of the element of the Triforce it represented. It's journey would hopefully not be long. With the speed of lightning it raced towards the edges of the kingdoms and scoured the lands. Town by town, home by home, it observed souls and with each person, deemed him or her unworthy. It spent the year looking, searching, to no end. It had to find a host. Since the Triforce was split, this fragment and it's siblings required a host to thrive. It floated towards a soul, that seemed to call it's name. It followed. Over Hyrule Castle Town it hovered for a short while. Suddenly, it dove down into the stone streets, glowing blue with the moon, swept over banners and rooftops and dodged around sharp corners until it found itself approaching a rather large manor surrounded by a small, green yard.

The dew had already formed, and they sat upon blades of grass while sparkling star white in the light of the moon. Several trees were placed symmetrically in accordance with the manor, as were flowerbeds. The manor itself was made out of the same stone as seen in other buildings and the castle to the north. It was shaped like a plus sign, and had three floors. Along the sides of the building, below the blue tiled roof, and around doors and windows, were ancient Hylian scripts that, since it could read such script, spun the tale of the old heroes of long ago. It could feel the pull of the soul it was searching for, and phased through the double oak doors above a small staircase. Inside the house was quite exquisite. The floors were of polished granite, and the walls were of the same stone used outside. Along the walls were blue tapestries decorated with silver scripts similar to those engraved along the perimeter of the manor. On dark oak stands were priceless vases of silver and along the walls were lamps glowing white made of the same substance. There was a main room, like an entry way. Towards the center and then the back of the room were two stairways curving out east and west, merging with their respective hallways while a third hallway stretched north. The stairs and the hallways were lined with blue carpets also ornamented with silver scripts and illustrations that continued the story of the heroes. It flew up the polished staircase and felt for the soul. It was to the east; up on the third floor and away in a tower. It made it's way to the soul, through another shining wooden door, and entered a rather large bedroom. Adorned with more silver objects and white painted furniture, the soul it sought for a whole year slept within the queen sized bed and under the periwinkle covers. The Triforce was somewhat confused. This soul was pure, kind, and gentle. Innocent. Those that sought power usually had darkness festering in their hearts. But alas, the pull of the soul demanded that it find it's host and it did as commanded. The Triforce of power merged with the soul inside the Hylian, and rested there, as it would until life fled the soul as it did it's previous master.

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Thea sighed as one of the many servants stuffed her small foot within a confining white heel. Sitting lazily in a straight wooden chair, elbow propped on a wooden arm, hand supporting an ivory cheek and back slouched, she counted the minutes until this whole ordeal was over. Come to think of it, she'd been counting down time for most of her life. "Now, now, m'lady!" Gilda chided, clicking her tongue and wagging her finger. "'Tis no time for mopin' 'round! Now sit up! Up I say!"

Thea's lady's maid and best friend was a plump woman, with light brown hair graying and fading around the edges near the temples. She was a hard worker; a no nonsense kind of woman who was determined to finish the job on time and with the best quality. Despite this, she had deep laugh lines curving around her bright mahogany eyes over a button nose and full lips. She was a servant: wearing clogs, knee socks, and a ragged servant's dress under a yellowing apron. She had her sleeves rolled up, exposing her pudgy arms which she was waving up and down, motioning her lady to sit up straight. Since Thea's mother had passed away, Gilda had taken over the job of becoming her best friend and mentor. Her father, the master of the house, was an edgy, quiet and intense man that barely made any time for his daughter. He was never seen in the house; often off doing business with other noble families or royalty or he was off at war. Otherwise, he'd lock himself in his study and never come out. So Gilda was the only parental figure to Thea, and her closest friend.

Thea groaned and willed her spine to straighten and her rehearsed posture to take over as the second shoe was buckled on her foot. "I hate this." She grumbled as she pushed her thick, ebony bangs out of her silver eyes. "Tsk, Tsk!" Gilda wagged her finger again. "You must deal with it, m'lady! You have an important audience with the prince of Oromius! Remember, you've been preparin' for this day all of your life! There's no time for dilly dallying and mopin' 'round!" Thea leaned her head into her shoulder unhappily. "Yeah. My father's been just itching to send me away with a man I don't know since they day I was born!" She threw her hands in the air as the servants left to retrieve another accessory to her perfect outfit. Gilda glared. "Now see here! There'll be no talkin' of the master in that way! Where have your manners gone?" Gilda placed her hands on her hips.

"Out there..." Thea turned her head out towards the balcony, where the silk curtains blew in the calming breeze; where the air outside smelled of honey and sounded with the sweet song of the sparrows that made their homes in the trees that lay beyond.

Gilda sighed. "Oh, m'lady..." She plopped down beside her troubled lady and rested her lands over the long, thin fingers of the younger woman. "I know what you feel like. I understand." She sighed again, at a slight loss of words. "It's just that- one must give up such luxuries when it's their duty. When it's for the good of the people." Thea turned her head away from the freedom that she so longed for, that was only a few feet away, to stare into the eyes of her best friend.

_That's right. _Her inner voice sighed. _It's my duty. _Tensions between Hyrule and Oromius ran high when she was born. Talk of war strung in the air and the tension was so strong you could almost smell it. Fear and anxiety were evident on all of the faces of those in Hyrule. Many prepared to evacuate the country and take refuge elsewhere. It was then that Thea's father, Teodric Vinet the fifth had traveled to speak with King of Hyrule to make a proposal. The King of Oromius had a seven year old son who had not yet been betrothed. Teodric Vinet had an infant daughter, Thea, whom he agreed to give to marriage the year she turned seventeen in exchange for peace between the two nations. The King of the enemy agreed, and the threat of war dissolved. Seventeen years of peace have gone by, and now Thea was about to have a brief meeting with the prince before her wedding; to smooth things over. If Thea were to leave and run away into the freedom she so desperately wanted more than anything, the disrespect for the agreement would anger the country of the prince and war would immediately follow. For the safety of the people of her country, she had to go through with this marriage. It was her duty.

The servants came back with elbow length silk gloves and they slipped them over her thin arms. Thea curled her right fingers into a fist and sighed for the umpteenth time, mulling over the many anxieties and troubles that had been brewing within her heart over the years. "Oh, look at ya!" Gilda clasped her plump fingers together and smiled proudly. Thea walked over to the tall mirror that the same two servants were holding up for her now.

In the mirror was a beautiful young girl with ivory skin, thick ebony hair with large, loose curls pinned up with lovely silver ornaments, with large, shining gray eyes, full, pink lips set in a slight frown, a nice round face, silver jewelry wrapped around a thin neck, a sleeveless periwinkle dress with hints of darker blues and whites, with silver inscriptions of a language she had seen a million times along the walls and floors of her home, a silver metal belt wrapped around a thin waist and the rest of the dress cascading down to the floor, hiding her shoes. She looked back up to her face. Gilda was right. But she was unhappy. Thea glided over to her best friend and Gilda took the young girl's hands into her own."A picture of beauty. Just like your mother."

Thea had to smile fondly at that.

Her mother. Cecilia Vinet was the beautiful lady of the house who had died of illness when Thea was ten years old. She was a kind woman with silver hair despite her youth and bright blue eyes gleaming with kindness and wisdom. She was loved and adored by all within the manor. She paid attention to all who lived there, servant and family member. She worked to make sure they were all happy and made everyone special gifts. Oh, how kind her mother was! Perfection. She was most especially close with Thea. "No matter what, Thea, always, _always_, fight for your dreams. It doesn't matter how many are against you. If you have faith and determination, your dreams will come true." She would always tell her daughter as she brushed her hair.

She fell ill one day. It was Thea's tenth birthday. Cecilia had went on a journey alone with a carriage, some guards and a coachman to retrieve her birthday present. Thea was told to stay by the back door, which lead out to the family's private fields. Suddenly she walked in with the most gorgeous creature Thea had ever seen. A lovely mare with a midnight coat so dark it looked like a piece of the night. She had strong muscles, but was fine boned, with long, thin legs designed for maneuverability and speed. She was medium sized, meant to be a show horse, but Thea knew why her mother had gotten her. The mare was meant to grant her daughter a little bit of her dream. Speed would give Thea some freedom, if only a little bit. Thea named her knew horse Aella, for the wind that swept through the air freely, with no boundaries, and always did as it pleased. After a shower of thanks from the little girl, the woman soon doubled over in pain. Worried servants with terrified daughter in tow carried her to the infirmary where she spent the rest of the week getting worse and worse. All servants visited her and gave her gifts and prayed for her. Thea spent all of her week on her bedside; she was half of the time in tears, not forgetting that her mother may not survive. Not once did her father come to her bedside. Soon, Cecilia leaned over to her. Her mother's breath still carried the scent of honey, but it was rotten honey. Her lips, that once spread into warm smiles, were cracked and dry, and whispered in a voice that used to be smooth and sweet like a bird song but now as raspy as a toad's and almost as quiet as a grave, "Do not let them take your dream away. Be free. Stay beautiful, inside and out. Follow your heart. I know you will do wonderful things." She smiled and Thea watched as she fell, eyes closed and a ghost of a smile still playing on her dull lips.

Then, where light and warmth and beauty was, hopelessness moved in. And that, is the worst of anything that could happen.

Thea felt like she was not fulfilling her mother's wish for her as she walked down the hallway on her way to meet the man she had been betrothed to for her whole life. She was about to be forced into a controlling marriage against her will. Then, she would become the princess of the enemy. She would soon rule over a country of people and be a slave to responsibility. She would have to create heirs she did not wish to create, take care of them, follow the orders of a powerful man she did not love, and be confined within an even bigger prison. She would die an unhappy woman, who had the power but not the happiness she so much deserved, and her life would not have been fulfilling. She would think of her mother, and be saddened that she would have never achieved her dying wish. She was somewhat frustrated that her mother would ask her of such a thing, when the lives of her kingdom rested in her simple choice. She certainly did not want her country to be torn apart just because of her selfish desires. A pit of dread and anxiety settled in her stomach as she thought of this. She was guided through the double doors and into the tea room where she knew her future husband, and captor, would be siting.

"Lady Althea Isabella Vinet of the Vinet household." The announcer from the other country proclaimed. Thea ducked her head as she walked in, obviously nervous, tired, sad, and fearful to see the face of the man who would marry her. She daintily plopped down on the blue and white sofa that her mother loved so much and reached for her porcelain tea cup with the tea made just as she liked.

She chanced a glance under her bangs at him after a short while of silence. He was surprisingly handsome: with dark brown, wavy hair that flopped over his forehead, a cleft chin, almond-shaped, dark brown eyes, a rather large nose yet perfectly placed, thin lips that curved upwards in a charming yet mysteriously dangerous way, and a rather muscular physic. He was seven years older than her, so he was around the age of twenty-five. He smiled when their eyes finally met, and while still looking at her, motioned for the announcer to hand him a scroll. "Good evening, Lady Thea." He rose and offered his hand. When gave him her hand, he grasped it and gently kissed it, as was customary. Still holding it, he looked into her eyes and said, "My, you are even more beautiful than described. Truly exquisite!" He let go of her to return to his seat on the opposite couch and continued to look her up and down. He was obviously judging, but he was obviously happy with what he was getting. Thea shifted uncomfortably under his incessant gaze. She was not an item at the auction.

"Now, I've been told you can read and write quite excellently?" He began. Thea snapped her head to his at his sudden words and nodded. Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to brake her rib cage. "Yes, Your Highness." She replied. "Ah! Such a sweet voice! I've been told you are a delightful singer and a master with the harpsichord and lute?" He interviewed. Thea nodded. "Indeed." He went on. "And a master at horsemanship! Quiet impressive! And you are well versed in your studies...My word, I cannot think of any flaw you may possess!" He may have been expecting a blush, or a squeal from her. She assumed he'd been sweet talking girls like this all of his life. They saw him as the handsome prince who'd be their knight in shining armor. Little did they know, that he'd most likely ditch them the minute he saw another girl and leave them to the mercy of the dragon. Seeing that she did not respond positively did not seem to phase him. Thea assumed he thought that she would get used to him.

"You need not bring clothes. Only for the journey. Since you will be the princess of Oromius you cannot be wearing blue and silver. Just red and gold. You may bring your horse, grooming tools, books, special objects, and anything else your little heart desires from home. Just as long as they do not have any relations to this country." He laughed, as thick as chocolate. "You see, my people may not take you kindly if you brought such things there!" His laughter died down. "Do you have any questions for me? We'll inform you of everything else on the way there." Thea replied, "No, Your Highness." The prince smiled. "Alright. And by the way, my name is Attor. Address me as Prince Attor." Thea replied again, bowing her head down. "Yes...Prince Attor..." The Prince smiled. "Good. Now, I must be going. I must meet with Princess Zelda of this matter and other business. I will see you in a week." He kissed her hand again, and then, left with his band of servants. After the door was closed, and the sound of echoing footsteps like that of a ghost faded away, Thea melted into the couch. All of her previous anxiety deflated like a balloon. It was the fastest tea session she had ever had. She assumed that it was only arranged for the Prince to see if he was getting all that he was offered. And he seemed satisfied.

It was five minutes later that Thea noticed that Gilda had not burst through the door, asking her what he was like and what he asked and what was going on. No, Gilda was not here. In fact, nobody was. Two guards should have been posted at the door, stoic and never moving. There should have been servants cleaning the room with diligent, experienced fingers. She was alone. Not a sound could be heard. The tension and mystery in the air hung so heavily she could almost see it. Something was not right, she was sure. Someone should have come to retrieve her by now...

She was not prepared in the slightest for the explosion that tore through the side of the tea room. It roared like an angry lion about to mall his prey, with the force of a bear slamming his paw into his enemy. The explosion sent a wave of invisible force that lifted her and carried her swiftly into the wall. She slammed into it, groaned, and slid down to the floor. When she willed her now heavy eyelids to crack open, she saw that there was a gaping hole in the wall, decorated with locks of glowing fire that exposed the once confining manor to the outside world. Debris began to fall, and she looked up to see a heavy board come at her with the speed of a freight train from above. With all her might she forced her weary muscles to work, and she successfully jumped out of the way. She tumbled away, but before she could find rest, a strange, foreign glove snaked it's way around her neck and lifted her effortlessly. Gasping for air and frightened, Thea griped the glove for dear life as she tried in vain to pry herself from the iron grip.

Her fear was digging a large pit in her chest, and filling it with snow and ice. Next, a freezing knife twisted her insides, and her blood ran cold when she heard his voice, his hot breath on her ear that made her tremble violently. "Hello lovely, I've been searching for you." Suddenly, they were moving. The man stepped over debris with heavy steps and soon they were outside. Still holding her four feet above the ground, he whispered, "Goodnight my love..." She knew, as her stomach dropped to her feet with realization, that she would die. Death was an even worse cage than marriage. _How pitiful. _She thought as she heard the rushing of wind moving past a weapon swinging down upon her head.

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**Author's Note: So...How was it? Any questions? Tips? Please message me or review!**


	2. Escape

**Author's Note: **

**After some thinking, I decided to post the second chapter early. I felt the first chapter wasn't enough to start the story. So here's the next chapter! Please read and review! **

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Escape

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There was a slicing sound, but no searing pain followed. She gasped as she fell to the ground, the hand wrapped around her neck falling with her but going limp. She closed her eyes as she landed unceremoniously to the stone ground with a thud and it rattled her brain for a short while. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the arm had been cut off from the man and squeaked as it was laying on her lap. She scrambled away from the bloody mass that had once been her captor rather ungracefully, her blood-splattered dress getting caught on her shoes and on various other things. She got some distance from it and stared at it with a horrified expression, her chest heaving up and down with her lungs' sudden need for oxygen. It was then that something gleaming caught her eye. She saw the man that had attacked her.

He was huge. Tall and dark, and practically radiating darkness. He wore red armor; it gleamed like spilled blood. From head to toe he was covered in it, including his face. He carried a ginormous cleaver in his right hand, made of the same red metal with Oromian inscriptions that Thea was forced to learn to read. The sword told the story of the conquest and the downfall of armies, as did his armor. On his back were leather packs and cases, each holding deadly weapons crafted for the art of killing. Thea swallowed thickly, terrified of what those weapons could do to her. But the shining of his armor was not what caught her eye.

It was the gleaming of a sword, hovering by her head. Her gray eyes traveled up the hilt of the sword, where a gloved hand gripped it, and then up the brown leather protected forearm, the arm, the neck, past the strong jawline and up to the sharp blue eyes and the dirty blond hair under a green cap. The inquisitive blue eyes were not looking at her. He was facing the armored man who had attacked her and was glaring with determination. There was silence, all but for the faraway screaming of confused people and the grumble of the flames eating their way into the manor.

"Oh, look! I've been searching for you for years, and finally the goddesses are bowing to my will and have brought you to me!" The enemy stated, his voice still smooth and calm. The boy who had saved her did not reply to his outlandish claim. "I heard you were a bit quiet..." The enemy assessed. He waved his giant hand. "No matter. I'm here to kill you both anyways.." He raised that same hand, and that's when Thea noticed it wielded a strange device. A gauntlet, made out of the same red material. It had a violent vibe to it; it was like it drew in anger and fear and bloodshed. A river ran up and down Thea's spine and she began to tremble in fear. "Time to die!" Energy of some sort collected near the gauntlet, and once again, Thea's stomach lurched in horror. Both green clad boy and noble girl gasped at the unexpected threat. The boy responded by shifting himself more in front of her and positioning his sword to block any attack. If it could, that is.

"Stop!" A clear voice rang out. The enemy grunted a questioning sound and turned his huge head sharply to the side. Then came seven members of the Hyrule Castle Guard, clad in brilliant shining silver inscribed with Hylian script, wielding spears and crafted shields. They surrounded a young woman who was approaching gracefully. With spears pointed at the man, they stopped in a symmetrical 'V' formation and the woman stepped forward and then halted. All was silent again, still screams and fire. All were holding their breath, save for the loud huffing of the enemy who was not on edge.

The woman was clad in a beautiful, expensive looking dress At the bottom of the skirt, above a border, were faded embroidering of swirling patterns that disappeared into the white of the dress. At her waist was an intricate golden belt, decorated with sapphires, that held up a beautiful tapestry that illustrated the Royal Family crest. There was a magenta shirt that curved upwards in an upside-down 'V' above the bellybutton and then curved down around the hips and back. The shoulders were clad in golden armor decorated with more sapphires and designs. Her arms were covered with expensive white gloves. The shoulder armor was connected to a necklace of sorts dotted with more blue gems. Over straight, perfectly placed brown hair was a golden crown with one last, giant sapphire resting in the center. She had an oval face, sharp chin, the trademark Hylian ears, thin eyebrows, and wise blue eyes. She was none other than Queen Zelda, the ruler of Hyrule.

The Queen squared her shoulders. "You are in Hyrule. By my order, you shall _not _fire that weapon!" Her voice rang out with power. The enemy scoffed. "You are just a child! What rule do you have over me? I'm not even a Hylian citizen." He jeered. Yes, the Queen was only twenty years of age. What made her eligible to be Queen was the wisdom she possessed that was beyond her years. Many did not see that. But her subjects, all who adored her, did. "Whether or not I am fit to be Queen does not have anything to do with this situation." As she narrowed her eyes, Thea suddenly was terrified of her might. "What I want to know now is, why are you attacking my people?" The enemy's wicked grin that now broke across his gray features was visible before the rest of his face was concealed by the red helmet. He lifted his cleaver and pointed it at Thea. "She's the one I'm after. Just let me take her and I'll be on my way without a problem." Thea turned her head sharply to the Queen, desperately hoping her response was positive. "And might I ask why you want the girl?" Zelda arched an eyebrow. His smile grew. "I desire power." Both the boy who saved her, and the Queen whipped around to look at Thea, both with expressions of surprise.

"I don't need to ask you how you found out to know it's true. We can sense it as well. But-" She raised her sword, a slim, light, weapon with a golden hilt. The boy, who had been staring into her eyes with a mixture of confusion and question, turned suddenly at the Queen's strangely forward actions. "We cannot allow you to obtain it. Turn back now or be executed." the enemy laughed, a cackling, high-pitched, slightly out of control snorting that erupted from his throat. He motioned for something to come forth. The Queen eyed the background carefully.

Silence. No talking.

There was a small rumble; a quiet beat that then began to grow. Sounds of snorts and other inhuman noises sounded and soon, a whole army of ugly creatures clad in armor and leather were by his side. Link and Zelda looked in horror at the sheer numbers of minions that were stomping their hoofed feet and rearing up for battle. Some were sharpening their weapons. For some, it was their tusks, while others swung their clubs and maces menacingly. The fear was now boiling in Thea's stomach, and was climbing up her throat like a poison. "Link." the Queen's serene voice called. The boy called Link straightened. "Take the girl-" She turned to him. "-and run." And that was all that needed to be said.

His large hand soon grabbed Thea's small, gloved one and she was ripped from her place on the ground. Tripping and stumbling over the lengths of her once pristine dress she was dragged along behind him. "Go!" She heard her attackers voice cry out into the night, like a witch's curse. Link pulled her arm with more force so she'd run faster. She cried out when she twisted her ankle, hearing the bone snap with a wicked crack, and grunted in horrible pain as she was forced to run step by step on the injury. Link slashed at any creatures that got in their way as they raced through the once peaceful and bustling streets of Hyrule Castle Town. Soon, her lungs began to shrivel up, closing as her body practically begged for air. Her throat began to light on fire, as did her legs, and scorched in the torrent of agonizing flame. She was not used to running. She'd spend her life in chairs, sipping tea. Now she was running for her life and she wasn't quite sure she'd make it. She felt the edges of her eyesight go dark. She looked over to the boy that was guiding her. He didn't seem to be breaking a sweat as he slashed at the boar-like creatures. She could sense a tinge of fear though, at the way he moved with urgency. Who would not be terrified when up against an army like this?

Finally, salvation! They ran up to a large, built working horse. It was surrounded by more of the creatures, trying to throw ropes over it's back and capture it. In a flash- Thea almost didn't see it- the creatures and the ropes were gone. Though she was terrified and confused and exhausted, she couldn't help but think how skillful this boy was with the sword. He couldn't have been more than eighteen years old! Still gripping her hand tightly, he stepped quickly on the stirrup and threw his leg over the creature. Then he pulled her up and she sat behind him. With a small cry he snapped the reigns. The horse neighed, a mighty sound, and sprinted out of the castle.

The horse was not like Aella. This one was giant, and jostled around like an earthquake. The muscles were powerful and pronounced, obviously a working horse. It's size made it slow but what it lacked in speed it made up for in endurance. This horse could most likely travel across the whole country without breaking a sweat at this speed. It almost clumsily sprinted, it's giant hooves slamming into the ground with 'thuds' and it's nostrils flaring as it snorted with exertion. It's thick, muscular legs were not equipped for maneuverability to avoid obstacles such as rocks and other plants. The horse could only really make slow turns or run in a straight line otherwise. Having a way with horses, Thea could sense that this horse had been through many other experiences close to this one in the past. She knew the horse would carry on though, as it had the endurance to do so. But right now, speed is what they needed. There were more boar creatures gaining on them. They were fast; they needed no animal to transport them, they could travel at the speed of a horse on their own.

On their pudgy little legs they waddled towards them but with the speed of a freight train. Thea's grip on the boy's shoulders grew tighter as she gasped when one of them managed to jump up to her level and warp a hand around a lock of ebony waves. He turned his head and his blue eyes darkened considerably when he took in what was going on. With a swift motion he managed to make a clean slice through the creature. She squeaked when it fell in two pieces to the ground like cement. Some more blood managed to splatter on her dress.

One second, they were riding away, the next, Thea was sailing through the air. Something hard smacked her and she was sent towards a more speedy descent to the unforgiving ground. She landed hard with a thud, and her brain was rattled and buzzed for a while. When it cleared, her head was throbbing and she managed to open her eyes. The boy was already up, rooted to the ground yet dancing in dynamic circles in congruence with his weapon, not letting a single enemy escape the silver, gleaming blade. Thea lifted herself off the ground and supported her upper body with her arms vertical to the ground while her legs curled and her dress sprawled out around her in a sort of heap. She watched with more amazement as he took down each enemy masterfully; with such skill it almost did not seem like it was a battle.

She felt a gust of hot breath that pushed away small hairs on her forehead and looked up sharply to see that the giant horse had lowered it's head. It nudged her cheek gently, and Thea realized what it was trying to tell her. Grabbing unto the reigns, she let the horse lift her effortlessly off the ground and let her lean on it's wide shoulders to keep her balance. She no longer had the strength to stand on her own. Together, the horse and the girl watched the battle commence.

The night air rushed by her as if it was also trying to capture her. It had been evening when she met with Prince Attor, but now the sun had disappeared over the horizon. The moon had not followed it. As soon as the sun was almost over the mountains, the last of it's light was squashed by bleak clouds. The clouds would sometimes cover her land, spreading their misery and sadness to others. Cecilia used to say that the clouds were jealous of the beautiful sun. Because the sun was so marvelous and full of happiness. It made the world spin around. But the clouds did not want the sun to shine. So they sometimes covered it and made rainy days. Now, it seemed like they were angrier than ever before. The low growl of thunder warned those who were passing by to stay away. Small flashes lit up the clouds every now and again, until buckets of freezing rain were dumped on the trio. Thea shivered violently in the cold. She could barely see the boy through the mist and pelting water. She squinted her eyes to search for him until she could no longer see his silhouette. She shivered again, this time, out of nervousness. Her only protection was out of sight. A whip of lightning sent down from the heavens slashed violently against the skin of the earth, leaving a gash only a few feet away. Thea felt the heat of the explosion sting her cheek and the force of it blew her back in the form of angry winds. She gripped the horse's reigns for dear life.

At the crashing boom of the lightning, the horse screamed and reared. On it's two back hooves, it kicked it's front legs blindly in an effort of self defense. It turned and then began to tip it's weight forward, right onto Thea. She willed what sliver of strength she had left to jump out of the way. On her stomach, she slid and landed in a large puddle of mud. She sat up and wiped the mud off of her face, hands and chest. The horse ran off with the thunder...

There was a long moment where nothing happened. Thea laid in the puddle, staring through the sheet of rainfall that hit her from all angles. Her adrenaline had worn off now, and her pain and exhaustion came back with full force. A heavy weight was pushing her down to the ground, so she rested her head in the mud. She assessed her injuries. Her ankle was definitely broken. Sharp pains akin to that of a large needle driving through her skin and muscles over and over again made her cringe. She had scrapes and bruises all over, that was for sure. Her lungs, which but a moment ago were about to explode, were now seeping with a poison like pain from exhaustion. Her legs seemed like they were withering from the long run. Her throat was the same way. Most of all, the fear and shock of what had just happened seemed to sink in and she began to slip into unconsciousness as her body decided to throw in the cards. She last saw the rain as it continued to fall with no end, the sky weeping forever, before the curtain of darkness fell.


	3. New Friend

**Author's Note:**

**Hello again! Here's chapter 3! For those of you who have not checked in lately, I ended up posting chapter 2 early last Sunday, I think. So, you get two new chapters this week, while the rest of us, who have read chapter 2 already, only get one. **

**On another note, in case you're all wondering, I'll explain a few things about the story. First off, the title is called ****_Dragonflies _****because dragonflies were symbols of courage, strength, and happiness in Japan, and were also used as medicine. You'll fully understand my reasoning for this name as we progress through the story. Oromius was named after the Spanish word for gold, Oro, which is one of their national colors that oppose the Hyrule colors. And I also introduced new monsters in chapter 2 that I have yet to name. For now, they won't appear again until the next few chapters, and by then I will have properly named them. **

**This chapter will be slower. There won't be any action. But, there will be more, don't worry! I have a lot in store for Thea and Link!**

**Alright, I'll stop talking so you can get to the story. Here's chapter 3!**

* * *

New Friend

* * *

"H..."

Thea scrunched her eyelids at the annoying disturbance. _Just go back to sleep. Maybe it will go away. _She thought to herself groggily.

"Hey..."

Still seeing the darkness behind her eyelids, she threw her hands lazily over her ears to block out the pestering voice.

"Hey!"

Thea bolted upright, reality shooting across her mind like a bullet. Her eyes flew open. She wished, by some miracle, that this was all just a cruel dream. She expected to wake up in her bedroom, lined with expensive blue wallpaper, white bedposts rising like great ivory pillars, a priceless vanity and a closet that would make any girl jealous. She expected to see servants bustle about, bringing various items that were part of her morning ritual and helping her change out of her satin nightgown. She expected to see Gilda throwing open the curtains, ordering her to get up and explaining to her the importance of duties.

But alas, this was only what she wanted to see. She knew all along what she'd wake up to. Instead, she was somewhere else. The puddle she'd passed out in was gone from the heat of the sun, but she was covered in dried mud that caked her skin and made her feel sluggish. She was in the middle of a wide, open field, dotted with beautiful, green maple trees. The grass whistled and waved silver in the soft wind. The mountains rose around the field capturing her in a giant bowl. Thea looked to her right and saw the faded outline of the castle she'd seen every day from her balcony. There were several, worn, well traveled paths branching out into different directions. There was nobody around. She looked down to see that she was still in her dress. It was not white anymore, but caked in mud, torn, and tattered up to her knees. Both of her shoes were gone so she was barefoot, and a glove of hers was missing. And Gilda was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!" Thea jumped and slapped a hand on her heart in fright. She looked around until she found the source of the tiny voice. It was... "What...what _are _you?" Thea gasped as she saw the creature. The little orb of green light with wings seemed to deflate a little in what Thea assumed was embarrassment. "I...uh...I'm...well- I'm a- fairy miss..."

* * *

_"The Fairies...Oh, where to begin, little one!" _

_"Please mother! Tell me about the fairies!"_

_"Well alright, dear one. Oh, the fairies were wonderful creatures! Made of magic and light. Did you know, that fairies can cast magic spells?"_

_"Wow! No way!"_

_"That's right! They may come across a weary traveler and in an instant they'd be healed! Did you also know, that the fairies helped the hero of time?"_

_"Amazing!"_

_"Yes. They can even grant wishes! If you wish enough, maybe a fairy will hear you and grant your wish!"_

_"Oh, mother, I'll wish really hard!"_

_"That's the spirit my little Thea!"_

* * *

"Hello?" The fairy said sheepishly. Thea turned her head sharply back to the small creature after returning from the past, causing the being to shriek in surprise. "Sorry." Thea apologized, staring at the fairy with wide eyes. She'd always thought that it was just a tale her mother had spun, to keep her daughter's mind off of her ultimate fate. Cecilia had been telling the truth all along. The fairy was an orb of green light. The color faded and became lighter more towards the core. Out of the orb were two silvery wings, like that of a mayfly, that fluttered every so often. Wherever it moved, a trail of sparkling dust followed.

"M-may I ask...a-are you m-miss...Althea? Althea V-Vinet?" Still staring dumbly at the being, Thea nodded slowly. "Um..." The fairy was referring to her staring, and Thea shook her head to rid herself of her shock. "I am.." Thea replied. "Oh! G-good! M-my name i-is Tully. I-I've b-been sent to assist y-you." She stammered. "Whatever for?" Thea asked, but then clamped her mouth shut. After what had happened, whatever _not _for? "I w-will explain later. B-but, we must w-wake the Hero Ch-chosen by the G-gods f-first." The fairy flitted away as soon as she was free from conversation. _Hero Chosen by the Gods...? _She wondered as she began to pull herself from the ground.

She yelped in pain as she was forced to put weight on the now swollen ankle she had snapped during her escape from the enemy and his minions. The ground came faster than she expected, and managed to weakly catch herself with her arms before she hit her head.

"Oh!"

The fairy zipped through the air towards her. "I c-can f-fix that!" The fairy whirled around her in dizzying circles until it was she was surrounded by a tornado of sparkling dust. She squeezed her eyes shut from the light, but they snapped open the moment the pain ebbed away. As the sparkles settled, her gaze darted from her ankle, no longer swollen, to the rest of her body, no longer cut and bruised, and then rose to the fairy who laughed sheepishly. Her energy was also back, and she bounced up to a standing position with no complications. "I'm s-sorry y-your dress is still dirty. M-my magic i-isn't all that g-good yet. I-i'm still a young." Tully explained. Thea looked down to see that her dress indeed was still a complete mess. She smiled. "No worries, Tully. You've done a wonderful job. Thank you." The fairy turned away. "Aw...gosh...w-well..."

There was a sudden groaning. Both gasped and whirled around too see that the boy was struggling to lift himself off of the ground ten feet away or so. It seems he had collapsed after his fight. How long had he been battling; protecting her? They both hurried over to his side. Thea slid on the ground and rested in front of him. "H-hey! Don't strain yourself!" She pleaded the boy.

She was nearly blindsided when he looked up at her with intense blue eyes that were brighter in the day than in the night she had first seen them. She was at a loss of words and on the verge of stuttering like a fool when Tully saved her, albeit unknowingly. "Oh, Chosen Hero! I-i'll heal y-you!" After a torrent of sparkles, he was healed and also full of new energy. Both Hylians lifted themselves off of the ground. The boy jumped, and began to turn his head this way and that. Realizing what he was looking for, Thea explained sadly, "Your horse ran away..." The boy was obviously dismayed, and Thea's heart sank at his loss.

"N-now th-that we are all alright, I-i must speak with y-you on an important matter." The green-clad boy and the noble girl listened closely to the fairy's tale.

* * *

_"The Hunter. That is w-what he calls himself. In a m-matter of one n-night, he managed to capture Queen Zelda, m-make Hyrule C-castle Town his stronghold, and hold all of the people living in it h-hostage. H-he's o-only there for one purpose. H-he's set out h-his army, out in search f-for you, Althea. We fairies d-do not get involved in Hylian w-war and politics. We are far above that. B-but, my l-leader, the Great Fairy, told me t-to send y-you this message and assist you! _

_"He was born o-of a race opposite of the fairies. We o-often are in conflict with them. The Gerudo people who hail f-from the desert. H-he became the l-leader of them as he's the o-only male b-born in one hundred y-years. B-but m-more importantly, he wields a red magic only w-we fairies c-can destroy. The Hunter has a weapon fueled by th-this magic. I-it was designed to influence a Triforce shard within it's h-host. Once he has you, h-he can manipulate y-our abilities. Unfortunately, our m-magic is l-limited. He attacked our Spring, the source of our p-power. _

_"N-now our only hope is a f-fairy weapon used only for emergencies. The Great Fairy s-scattered them throughout the l-land. So...Please. Please Hero Chosen by the Gods! Go retrieve the shards of the weapon, save the Queen, save Hyrule once again!_

* * *

The boy - no - the Hero - simply nodded his head, seemingly up for any task given to him without question or room for failure. Thea stared at him in slight shock. "Oh glorious!" Tully spun around Link once again in dizzying circles. "H-hey!" Thea gained the fairy's attention. "What about me? I've gotta go home!" The fairy shook. "I'm s-sorry, Miss Althea, b-but that's not possible. The Hunter seeks something of yours." She explained. "What do I have that he wants? Is it money? I've got that!" She cried. She was desperate to get herself out of this tangled mess. She wanted to return to what was safe. What she knew. "Miss Althea, d-do you know the st-story of the Triforce?" Confused by the fairy's strange question, and wondering where this conversation was going, she warily squeaked, "Yes?" The fairy continued to fidget. "The last wielder of th-the Triforce of Power died a y-year ago." She continued. Thea chanced a glance over at the young Hero, who was staring at her with a measured gaze. Her eyes flicked back to the green orb of light. "A-and the triforce requires a h-host...so i-it chose y-you."

The only question ringing in her head at that moment was, _Why me? _Why her? What had she done to deserve such a burden? A triforce was a piece of the Gods; a part of their power. Something that powerful, and potentially dangerous was inside of her? She was Althea Isabella Vinet, daughter to Lord Teodor Vinet the fifth and Lady Cecilia Vinet, betrothed to Prince Attor of Oromius. She was a title. That was really all she was. But now, she was the new holder of the Triforce of power. She had something powerful and dangerous inside of her and she was overwhelmed. She didn't know what to do with so much power. With the new realization hitting her like a one ton brick, and her body feeling heavy while her mind was bouyant, she began to sink to the ground. Her mind was darkening...

Something had caught her. At that moment, her eyes snapped open and her consciousness reopened as it reawakened. She was still on her feet, but there was a hand gripping her right shoulder, and another gripping her right forearm. She looked sharply to the gloved hands that had caught her, and followed them up to the face they belonged to.

In the daylight, she got a better look at his face. He had fair skin, sharp, intelligent, sea blue eyes that were shadowed by sweeping dirty blond hair under a green cap, the trademark Hylian ears, the right of which had a small, blue earring, and a straight nose, thin lips, strong chin and jawline. He had a cream colored undershirt with a high color, with golden chain mail over it and a green tunic over that. He had a brown leather belt tied around his waist that carried a pack on the other side, and another leather belt that wrapped around his chest to support a sword sheath with an intricate and powerful looking sword within it. His forearms were protected with first a green cloth layer, and then leather forearm protectors decorated with simple designs and then became finger-less gloves. He had cream colored pants and brown leather boots that went up to just below his knees. He had a lean physique, but wide shoulders and strong looking overall.

He let her go and she righted herself. "Thank you." She managed to whisper. He gave her a curt nod with a smile. Thea turned to the fairy. "What now?" She asked. The fairy fluttered it's wings. "I must bring you b-back to the Great Fairy r-right now. We have s-so little time. W-we must hurry to the Cave of Ordeals!" Link gave a small nod once again, and the two began running. Confused at the fast paced change, Thea lifted a hand and called, "Wait!" Both stopped and turned to her. Embarrassed by the spotlight, she clasped her fingers together, and inquired, "W-where is the Cave of Ordeals?" The fairy shifted at the question. "I-in...Gerudo Desert.." She whimpered. _Gerudo... _"Hey...isn't the- Hunter a..." She trailed off. Reminiscent fear clawed at her throat again. She found, to her surprise, that she could not speak of him without being nervous. The boy seemed to pick up on her fear. The fairy confirmed her suspicions. "Y-yes. B-but the Gerudo have b-been gone from th-that place for c-centuries. They moved to O-Oromius after the monster invasion." She explained. Thea remained stationary a few feet behind them.

She was still reluctant. She was being taken away from her home. From all she had ever known. And for what? To meet a fairy who'd tell them to race cross-country to find the shards of a weapon she'd never heard of? To defeat a nearly unstoppable man who'd tried to kill her and had the power to capture Queen Zelda herself? But then she looked at the boy clad in green; the Hero Chosen by the Gods. She'd heard of him. When shadow swept across the sky and monsters broke through the peace she had lived in most of her life; when she had been curled up in the corner of a dark closet for weeks, shivering in Gilda's arms in an unknowing void and asking herself whether she'd make it out alive – he'd been the one to save them all. He broke through her fear, and the fear of all people in this land. If the Hero could do that, then they could stop this man, and she'd be able to return home. She just had to complete this quest, and all would be safe. She had to have faith.

* * *

**End Notes:**

**I'd like to respond to some of the wonderful reviews I received!**

**Airheadninja: Thank you so much for your review and encouragement! It means a lot and gave me the confidence to continue on with this story!**

**Lainare: Haha! Thanks for the enthusiasm! And there will be more!**


	4. The Chase Begins

**Author's Note:**

**Well, it's Friday once again. And you know what that means! A new chapter! This chapter is packed with some great back stories and is full of action!**

**You may also be wondering why I like to use a lot of description. My reasoning for this is that all of these places that we know and love from playing the Twilight Princess game have not ever been seen before by Thea, who is telling the story through her eyes. That, and it is also my attempt at making the world more realistic and detailed, as was my goal.**

**Once again, reviews are greatly appreciated and if you have any questions don't be afraid to message me!**

**And once again, I do not own the Legend of Zelda, I only own my plot and my characters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The Chase Begins

* * *

Queen Zelda had been through only one great trial in her life as a ruler. From the minute she was born, she'd been trained to be a ruler. She walked the glowing, white halls with a straight spine and clasped, gloved hands. The servants' children her age would run and duck and play through the corridors, hiding behind shining suits of armor decorated with the Hylian crest as she walked by. Dressed in non restricting servant's shorts and dresses, they'd hop and roll and duck as they played war. Oh, how she longed to play with them! She would stop in the hallways as she walked to her classes and simply watch them giggle and scream. They had no heavy burden that loomed over their heads; no responsibility in the future to train and prepare for. They would grow up to carry on simple tasks that kept this palace running. While she would grow up to rule and maintain a country.

The children would stop then, noticing her presence. They would stare with wide eyes and dirty faces while she would stare back with immaculate fair skin and expensive dress. They knew who she was. All four hundred of the servants knew this. The children were told by their parents not to look royalty straight in the eye, to always bow when meeting them and to keep the head low in their presence. These children were too young to follow rules. Children are used to testing the limits, understanding the consequences of things and getting a feel for life and society around them. Thus, their curiosity got the better of them.

A young boy padded over to her and looked into her eyes with his wide saucers. The two seven-year-old children stared at each other for a while, the servant boy daring to speak to the young princess. "Wanna play war?" He whimpered. "We knights are gonna stop the Dark Prince! You can be a knight or a sage..." He trailed off, ducking his head in expectation of being reprimanded. Her sharp, blue eyes flicked over to the other children, who smiled at her encouragingly, lifting their makeshift weapons and magical staffs of brooms and pots and pans. Oh, she wanted to play! So long had she worked and learned for reasons she did not yet understand. Her gaze darted down the hallways; washed in a mellow-golden light and ornamented with priceless artifacts, yet no adults swept through the halls with a stingy air, explaining to her the importance of order. She hated order. Smiling, she reached for the magic broom stick that would make her a hero...

"What is this?!" The screeching voice of her mentor made her flinch. Her mentor, a tall woman with a large, parrot-like nose and small bird-like features click-clacked over to her in her expensive heels. The woman grabbed the broom away from the small boy as he shrunk away from the King's second in command. Grabbing the end of the tool, she swatted at the children like they were cockroaches. They shrieked and scattered like rodents caught in the light and scrambled away. Zelda watched them go with a longing gaze. "You have duties!" Her mentor screeched. "When will you learn that you have duties to attend to? There is no time for- for play!"

It wasn't until she was older did she realize the true reason she was going through such rigorous training. It was revealed that her father had a serious ailment since she was born. He had chosen not to treat it. He would have been bedridden and he wished to be there to watch his daughter and his country grow. He told her everything she ever needed to know to be a successful ruler in a matter of two minutes on his death bed. The last words he uttered before his eyes glazed over were; "And you will be the greatest leader of them all, for a great leader has divine wisdom..." At the age of twelve, she had discovered that she possessed the Triforce of Wisdom. From then on, she devoted herself to her work on her own. She rejected her mentor and took control of the castle. In a matter of months, she became the new ruler. By the time she was nineteen, she was ready for her coronation to be Queen of Hyrule. It was cut short.

Looking back now, she new it was a test of her leadership skills. She had made the right decision, true to the power of her Triforce. She surrendered and put all of her trust into one seventeen-year-old boy and the land was saved. Soon after, she became Queen, and her people could not have been more proud or more happy.

Now, she was faced with another test. Once again, she was captured. The minuted Link left, the Hunter; as he called himself, turned on her. In a matter of seconds he had taken down her soldiers (the ones that didn't run away) and offered her a deal; just has Zant had only a year before. Surrender or die. And once again, she surrendered and put her hopes into the same Hero. He was not alone anymore. He had two tasks. One, to save Hyrule, and the other, to keep the wielder of the Triforce of Power out of the Hunter's clutches. That sort of power was a dangerous threat to her kingdom.

The door of her prison tower was opened, and he walked in. "Why do you not manipulate my Triforce? You have the tools to do so." She questioned immediately. The hunter smiled under his helmet. "Ah, but I need the power to achieve courage and wisdom. I cannot activate the red magic without it." Zelda remained cool and contained. "You are not worthy for courage, wisdom and power. The Triforce resides in it's wielder forever. They will choose no other." He stepped forward. "Who said I was going to separate the Triforce from it's hosts? No, I'm going to capture each one of you and merely manipulate your powers." He grinned. "You are a fool to think simple magic can manipulate the Triforce." She snapped coolly. He leaned forward, so his hot breath was on her cheek. "Not without her."

* * *

"Oh! Oh! What do I do?" The seasoned maid scuttled among the rubble of her home, searching. Her old clogs kicked away small pieces of stone, scuffing her shoes. She was already bruised from wading through the ruins of what was once the tea room. Cupping her hands around her pudgy cheeks, she called, "M'LADY!" Three times she called, but the soft, sweet, silvery voice of her friend and lady did not call back. Oh, she didn't know what happened. Once Gilda left the tea room to leave the young girl and her fiance alone to discuss the wedding preparations, something had come over the wise maid and she had fainted. When she woke up, all of the servants had suffered the same thing, and there was a giant hole in the tea room and...Lady Althea was nowhere to be seen. She just didn't know what to do. She kept searching but she had searched for a day. She knew that Althea was not there. But, she discovered, searching helped ease her mind. Helped keep her from thinking that her beloved lady Althea might be...oh she couldn't think it!

"Oh! What do I do?" After she had said that, a strong voice cut in.

"You, must not worry."

Gilda turned to see none other than the prince of Oromius himself. She bowed, not meeting his eyes. "Oh! Your Highness! What an honor- but-" The prince waved his gloved hand. "I can see you are just as confused as I. I had just left the front door to your manor when there was a big explosion. I was knocked unconscious, just like the rest of you. When I awoke, the side of the manor was in ruin, and there was a big commotion. I spoke to one of the injured guards who described that a young girl looking like Lady Althea had been attacked, but was saved and taken away by a young man in green. He also said that a mysterious warrior has taken over Hyrule, and the Queen has been captured." Gilda stared at the ground with wide eyes, still bowing in his presence.

He did not ask her to stand.

"The guard said that this masked man is in search of Lady Althea. So I must go. I already looked here. I must scour the land. I won't rest until I find her." Silver tears dropped down and plopped onto the stone. "Oh, thank you Your Highness! Thank you!"

* * *

They began to walk. Thea and Link were side by side and Tully was hovering a little ways ahead, guiding them to their destination. "Why didn't the Great Fairy come herself if she's the most powerful of all the fairies?" Thea asked. The fairy stopped bouncing and hovered in the air for a while. The sparkles that glittered off of her wings became fewer. "She is unwell. What the H-hunter did to us - w-was unspeakable. His R-red m-magic is strong. Sh-she did all she c-could to protect us. N-now, she has l-little strength. Th- that's why sh-she sent m-me." The fairy turned away and continued to fly, although with less fluttering and more gliding. Obviously, this was something that troubled Tully deeply.

Thea was beginning to understand the seriousness of this situation, and her role in it all; though she was still confused. She had come from a sheltered life of rich jewels and expensive fabrics. Though she never liked that life, it was definitely a shock as she was thrown into the world she so longed to be a part of. It was scary. She didn't know why, but it was.

A steady silence crept over them, and Thea stole a glance at the boy beside her. He had a faraway look; he was deep in thought. Thea took the chance. "Link...is it?" He snapped out of his trance and turned his head to glance at her. Once again, she was at a loss of words under his questioning gaze. The blue eyes seemed to have known her, yet were new and questioning.

How strange. What was that feeling in the pit of her stomach? The fluttering?

Turning her head away in embarrassment- she had stared at him without words for longer than was comfortable- she willed her voice to speak; "I just wanted to say...Thank you." He continued to watch her with a focused expression. "I could have been killed, but you got me out of there in time, and saved me from those monsters...so...Thanks." He offered her a small smile in response. She almost forgot. "Oh! I guess I never introduced myself. She turned to him now, her sidestepping as they walked. "My name's Althea; but just call me Thea." He nodded his head. She turned back to the fairy.

They were now within a pathway walled with granite and topped with rich green grass. Over the walls, one could see horizons of soft, rolling mountains edged with stone cliffs that faded into the bright blue sky. Thea felt safe and secure, like nature made these walls to protect travelers from the forces of the weather and from the unkindly thief. Their steps were rhythmic and almost melodic. Thea found herself humming a tune Gilda had taught her when after her mother died.

So just take my hand  
And go where I go  
Far across the land  
Into valleys low.  
Up to the mountains  
Through windy desert.  
Swimming in fountains  
Trekking through cold weather  
Nothing will stop us.  
Never will we part.  
Going there we must.  
The strength of our hearts;  
We'll make it through it all.  
You'll never let me fall...

Though it was a poorly written servant's song, it was a tune Thea had grown to love. Her mother most especially took joy in singing it to her.

The second time she hummed the little tune, Tully had joined in. Her voice was close to a clear, silver whistle as she matched tones and harmonized, twirling through the melody; climbing and soaring and ducking and sliding through the coarse of the song. The rhythm of their feet kept the song alive, like kindling to a fire. The two of them laughed through the song.

They reached a fork in the road. The road merged with the one they were traveling on now, and they were divided by tall rises of stone. Still giggling, Tully and Thea continued on the road they were traveling on, preparing to turn, when Link raised an arm that blocked the young girl from venturing any further. She bumped into his arm with a soft gasp, and both stopped their tune. His blue eyes were narrowed, his brows furrowed considerably and his mouth formed a tight frown. His gaze darted from side to side.

He had heard something, so Thea stopped to listen as well. She raised her head and strained to hear. She felt it though. The ground began to rumble like an angry monster. Thea turned her head down sharply to see that the stones on the road were jumping from the vibration. As time passed, it got more violent...

Something was whistling. She heard it. A second past, and something whizzed by her head; just grazing her ear but it felt like a razor. She whirled around to see a flaming arrow had made it's mark in the stone wall behind her. They all looked around the cliff in front of them and into the road that was about to merge with theirs. Inhuman growls, sounding like a frog choking, sounded and soon, dozens of troll like creatures sprinted towards them with lopsided beats in their steps.

"Uh..." Tully trailed off, fear and warning in her voice.

"What-what are those things?!" Thea gasped.

"Run!" Tully screamed. And they were off.

The ground was shaking like an earthquake and a thunderstorm. Their calls became more numerous by the second, screaming and yelling. Thea's heart was hammering against her rib cage, like a war drum that warned the soldiers that the enemy army was there. It threatened to break through her rib cage and pound away. Her lungs once again threatened to burn, like they had the night before. Her legs felt numb and weightless, as if they were wings that would help her fly away faster. Thea felt the air being disturbed as arrow after arrow whizzed by, and prayed that they did not meet any of their intended targets.

With Tully taking the rear, Thea in the middle and Link leading them, they raced through another granite walled corridor until they finally came into a clearing.

It lead to another fork in the road. The left road went a little ways to a small shack, while the right veered off towards a great bridge. There was a patch of green grass, dotted with yellow tall thistles and three large, moss covered stones resting in between the two roads. Ahead of them, one hundred feet or so, was a high drop, protected by a long line of wooden fencing to keep travelers from falling. After the cliff and into the distance were monstrous, red, thick chimney stones that struck the sky after smaller, gentler, green cliffs that met the end of the bridge. A colorful sign pleaded with them to go left. But Link took the right road.

The right road lead to a larger expanse of land that was walled off by mountains to the right and back, while the bridge stood close by in front of them. The road and grass became stone before the great structure. There were huge, stone pillars creating a massive archway decorated with faded designs engraved in the stone. After the archway, the long, straight bridge extended for a long way, walled by small, protective lines of stone. It lead to rock and forest. As they ran under the archway and onto the bridge, another monster was up ahead. Link unsheathed his sword and quickly dispatched the monster. Thea felt a wart covered hand wrap around her thin ankle and cried out in fear as it tugged.

She was pulled to the ground.

Link and Tully whirled around while the monsters caught up with them and began to flood over her. She thankfully managed to free her ankle from the monster's grasp, and bringing it back to gain force, sent it forward to kick him in the face. It was pushed back, and while Link was cutting through the monsters to get to her, Tully in tow, she hoisted herself off the ground and was also wading through the sea of monsters to get to him.

When they were close enough, she reached her hand out to him, as far as she could, feeling the muscles in her arms stretching. He reached his free hand to her, and after a few long, climatic seconds, managed to grasp it and pull her rather harshly towards him. They were still surrounded though, Link cutting and cutting through the swamp of creatures with fierce determination. His eyes were ablaze with blue fire and were narrowed at each enemy that came too close. They were surrounded by shouts and gurgles of the choking frogs, and every one was grabbing at them.

If felt like an awful nightmare.

Tully was caught by one, and she squeaked as she was about to be pulled under. Thea slid onto the ground, kicked this one hard in the jaw and it let go. From then on, Tully hovered above and out of reach.

Just then, another squawk sounded, and they all looked to the end of the bridge. Another five dozen monsters were there. There had to be about sixty or so. The leader raised his club and with a war cry, they marched towards them. Cornered and not knowing what to do, Thea braced herself for the worst, but a hand had grabbed hers and pulled her away. Link climbed on top of one of the stone railings and then hoisted her up with him. He looked down.

Sudden realization dawned on her and she screeched, "Are you insane?! We can't-"

But she didn't have time to finish her sentence as he pulled her down with him and they plummeted towards the unknown...

* * *

**End Note:**

**Questions? Comments? Don't hesitate to review or message me!**


	5. Water and Fire

**Author's Note:**

**The newest chapter is here! For all of you awesome people who have been following my story, welcome back! And for those of you who are new, welcome! **

**In this chapter, I'll tell you a little more about my writing process! All of my original characters names have specific meanings. Tully is derived from the Irish word for hill. Attor is an Anglo-Saxon name that means venom. Gilda can mean servant or also, gold. Cecilia means "the way for the blind."**

**Now, all Legend of Zelda fans should know where Link's name came from. Link is the "link" between the player and game. We can interpret his expressions and actions however we want to (since he doesn't speak) and that makes a better story and more enjoyable game play.**

**Lastly, Althea is a Greek name that means healer. **

**And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...the next chapter!**

* * *

Water and Fire

* * *

Attor was a proud man. Since he was born, he was showered with affection and gifts and praise. He was the perfect prince. He was dashing and daring and bold. He was a master huntsman as well; as all Oromian princes were expected to be. His country, his empire, was that of hunting and warfare. As he went on his hunts, chasing the swift red fox through the barren desert trees of his homeland, the local girls would scream and squeal and cry in admiration. He loved the attention, but his heart was set on marrying the girl he had been betrothed to since he was seven years old. He was not angered or saddened by this match. Quite the opposite. He was indeed looking forward to having a wife.

He had gone to see her to find if she was what Teodor the fifth had promised her to be. Exquisitely beautiful. There was no match in all the lands that compared to her beauty; with raven, loosely curled hair, wide, round gray eyes surrounded by thick lashes, full lips, flawless, ivory skin, thin frame, long fingers, and perfect posture.

There were no pure Oromian females. Once they were born, they were always subject to a deadly disease that took their lives a few hours after birth. That is why all Oromians seek wives outside the homeland. This is most important to the royals and nobles of his country. Though they don't often go to Hyrule-for tensions run high between the two countries- he was lucky enough to be betrothed to someone like his fiance. Oh, how his friends would be so jealous to have her on his arm! She was indeed educated, which would look well to the council and to his dying father. Then, he'd have someone to do his chores and create a perfect heir who would become the next king.

She looked rather upset at the marriage. She seemed like a deep thinking kind of girl. One of a free spirit and dreams. Such qualities might be well accepted and encouraged in a place such as Hyrule, where a woman reigns as their ruler, but not for the council and not for him. He was quite surprised that she didn't give in to his charm. He was flabbergasted when he found she didn't seem to want anything to do with him. It was surprising. Every girl in the kingdom wanted to be his wife. _And she gets the opportunity on a silver platter and doesn't jump at the chance?_ Strange indeed. She had a strong will.

He was alone, striking out to the East as directed by a witness. He was thrilled with the hunt. He loved how he became one with nature. One with the earth and blended with the sky. Sharing a soul with the animals. But this was not peaceful. It was exhilarating. Especially when he drew his knife to slay the animal cornered in his trap...

He was trying to find his fiance and the boy who had taken her away. They were fast. Just like the red fox he chased in the desert. His heavy boots slammed into the ground, splashing into a large puddle. There were footprints. Small, bare ones, next to a pair of boots. That was them. The tracks had been there since the morning. He looked towards the horizon. They headed East.

Smiling with the pointed teeth and gleaming eye of the predator, he climbed back on his massive red horse, bred for power and endurance, and kicked it's stomach to get it to run. With a bellowing whinny, the sound akin to that of one of the four apocalypse's horses, it stomped it's massive hoof into the malleable earth and cantered. He followed the footprints with his keen brown eyes, searching for any changes in direction or any attempts to throw him off. Whoever this young man was, Attor was thankful to him for protecting his fiance. But now it was time to hand her over. Althea rightfully belonged to him. He came to a fork in the road and was puzzled as he saw hundreds of little footprints that trampled over the one's he had been following. These must have belonged to the subordinates of the Hunter the Hylians were ranting about.

Such weaklings.

A true Oromian would laugh at such a pitiful threat and stand to fight. Not cry over it and wait for some pathetic _Hero _to save them.

To put all your faith and trust into one man while you cowered was the definition of weakness. No wonder his father desired to conquer this place. _"Such people are below us. We must share our greatness with them. Show them strength." _The King bellowed on top of his fur covered throne in front of a hundred of his best warriors.

He came to an old, great bridge. Seeing the heaps of dirt throughout the bridge meant that the monsters had chased them across. Yelling at the horse to move faster, they traveled over the bridge and turned down into the road towards the center of the tiny, defenseless kingdom.

_Where is your hero now? _He taunted cruelly to all Hylians in his thoughts.

* * *

Plummeting.

That's what was happening.

They were plummeting into the unknown.

A wise man once said a person's greatest fear is of what they do not know.

This made it all the worse as they dropped like rocks down to who knew what.

Everything was a blur. All she could see was a smearing of colors as the cliff sides blended together in sickening browns and then into black. She didn't even scream. Her stomach jumped into her throat and choked her from making any noise. Her senses were all numb. She couldn't really comprehend what was going on.

_Is this it? _She thought. _It can't be._

Then, she hit something. The force was like that of crashing to the ground. But it was not earth. It was cold, and wet. She opened her eyes to see that she was submerged in water. Holding her breath, she saw the twirling waves and the dancing files of golden light reaching like fingers into the water. Fear began as a seed in the pit of her stomach, and grew as thorns that pierced her heart and lungs. She could not swim. Had never been taken to an ocean in her life. So she began to sink...

Two arms had wrapped around her waist and pulled her up from below. Soon, they broke through the surface, both gasping for air. Her lungs throbbing, so she wheezed and coughed, grabbing for lungfuls of oxygen. When she was done, she leaned her head back into the person who had saved her, exhausted. "Is everyone alright?!" Tully came floating down to them, trails of green sparkles twinkling in the air in her wake. Thea lazily nodded her head. "G-good thinking, Link!" Tully praised.

So he had known what he was doing when he pulled her off the bridge.

_Oh...Link!_

It was him that had also saved her from drowning. It was him that still had his arms clasped around her waist to keep her from sinking again. Blushing madly now- and she didn't know exactly why- she turned her head down to the water in embarrassment. To make things worse, the seemingly oblivious Tully noticed. "O-oh no! Miss Althea! Are you unwell?" The fairy twirled around her and fussed over whether she was alright or not. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" She repeated, trying desperately to get herself out of this awful situation. She prayed that Link did not pick up on her flaming cheeks and why they were like that. Thankfully, his gaze was fixed upwards and was staring intently at the bridge one hundred feet above them.

Thea took in her surroundings. The bridge had two monstrous, thick pillars that once dove into the water and were rooted to the lake floor, but were destroyed and broke off. Thea wondered why. Was it from time? From war? The bridge was very high up. They could see the whole structure clearly from their viewpoint.

"I can't believe we fell all that way..." She mused. "Yeah." Tully added.

While the other two were still staring at the bridge, Thea fixed her sights on the lake and it's surroundings. The whole body of water was walled off by russet colored cliffs, a sign that the lake water had once rose higher long ago. Smaller plateaus jutted from the cliff sides, where skinny, malnourished pines perched and some grass sat, though spread thin and dry. A few waterfalls spilled into the lake from other rivers connected to them. "I-it seems th-they won't b-be following us down h-here.." Tully concluded. That's why Link was looking at the bridge. To see if those creatures would jump after them. Looks like they were too cowardly.

Link pulled her with him as they turned around. Structures and bridges made out of damp, mossy wood dotted the surface of the lake. Above them and to the left was the house they had seen earlier, threatening to tip over the ledge that curved over the water. A natural pillar of earth broke through the water and rose upward to meet the sky. Tiny, faraway birds circled around overhead and squawked at each other like some of the old, married servants back home. One of the structures, a floating colorful house, could be seen.

"W-we should get out of th-the w-water and d-dry off b-before we c-catch a c-cold." Tully suggested. Link began to swim with one arm still around her, but she stopped him. "I-I think I'll be f-fine from here." She stuttered, embarrassed by their close proximity for reasons she did not know of. He turned and gave her an unconvinced look, an eyebrow arched, but she returned it with pleas in her eyes. He relented, and let go.

Swimming in place to watch her, she splashed violently and sunk below again. She could see him quickly reaching out to catch her, but she used her hands as paddles and pushed through the water. She glided back up to the surface and took in another deep breath. "See, it's not that hard. I'm fine!" He nodded, gave her one last cautious look, and turned his back to her to swim to the house.

She found that within seconds, she could not swim well at all. She sputtered and splashed through the water. Link kept throwing worried looks her way as he watched her struggle. She denied his attempts to help every time.

Tully fluttered by her head. With an increase in sparkling dust, she glowed brighter. Soon, Thea was out of the water and hovering over the surface.

Gasping, she sharply turned to the fairy. "S-sorry, Miss Althea. Y-you were j-just struggling so much..." She trailed off in fits of mumbles and squeaks from embarrassment. Thea looked down to her barefoot feet hanging over the smiled.

Oh, she was flying!

"I'm not mad, Tully." She looked over to the fairy who jerked at her name. "Thanks for helping me." The fairy bounced up and down. "Oh, i-it was n-nothing Miss A-Althea!" She chirped. Thea took a cautious step forward. Her foot met an invisible force, like a flat surface. She stepped with her other foot until they were together and balanced, arms extended. Grinning now, she turned back to the fairy. "And Tully?" She called. "Y-yes?" The fairy answered. "It's Thea." And she walked on air, towards the house. "O-Oh! Of coarse! Miss- I-I mean, Th-Thea!"

She walked across the lake on light feet, feeling the swirling wind comb through her hair and brush against her cheeks. The wind whispered to her, like it had always done when she was a child. It beckoned her to be free. To do as she pleased. And now that she _was_ free, she could do so.

So she ran.

Her feet padded over the invisible surface and she lightly jumped over to where Link was focused on swimming. Splitting through the water with powerful strokes, he finally noticed her skipping backwards and smiling down at him. Surprised an astonished that she was floating above the water, he lost his focus, sputtered and began to sink, arms flailing. Thea laughed at his comical display. When he properly righted himself, he threw her a strange look that made her blush and forced her to turn away from him. _What was that all about?_

They all made it safely to some floating wooden platforms. After hoisting himself onto the moss covered boards, and her landing gracefully next to him, they hopped across to get to a very colorful house made of the same material. _That house looks like a clown has thrown up all over it. _Thea thought comically. If there was one positive thing about being cooped up in an eloquent place like the manor, it was that one was always surrounded by the latest in interior design and clothing fashion. She gained an excellent taste in style. It was true though. The attractions here were painted with so many contrasting colors it would be hard for one _not_ to notice it.

They hurriedly approached a man in a pink, long sleeved shirt that exposed his protruding stomach over crop pants with hearts on the knees and sandals. He had floppy, Hylian ears, a large, red nose, blue lipstick on a deep frown and purple eyeliner surrounding wide, round eyes. He wore a jester's hat over worried brows.

"Thanks for flyin' with Fyer, fella and lady and..." He tilted his head when he caught sight of the fairy. On the spot now, Tully laughed nervously before hiding behind Thea. "And lil' sparkly one. Alright, for just ten rupees I can get you-"

A frog's croak.

Link and Thea whipped around to see tiny, small figures flying through the sky.

"What in the world..." Thea muttered.

They were flying in the sun, making it hard to see, but as they got closer, there was no mistaking what they were. More of the trolls. Feyer sputtered and cowered. "BULBLINS!" He shrieked. Thea whirled around and faced him. "Mr. Feyer, sir! We've got to get into that cannon!" She cried. The man continued to cower, quaking in fear.

"Mr. Feyer!" She never really shouted. She wasn't allowed to. She was surprised to hear that her voice was full of power and left no room for consideration. The man jumped and allowed them to pile into the cannon. Once they were squished, they waited impatiently for the aging man to play the cute little tune.

They could hear the choking noises getting louder and louder!

The machine twisted and turned enough to make her sick. Suddenly, the cannon rumbled violently. Thea looked below her, where their feet were resting, to see an explosion of fire. She flinched and cried out as the cannon thrust backwards, then the explosion pounded their feet and they were launched into the air.

* * *

"Sir!" A warrior clad in furs knelt down and bowed her head. She was out of breath, just returning from her journey to retrieve news from the front.

"Speak." The Hunter waved his hand.

"Sir, the wielders of the Triforce of Courage and the Triforce of Power have escaped our fleets and are currently traveling to the Gerudo desert." The Hunter leaned forward in the throne.

The castle in Hyrule was somewhat overdone. Everything was made out of a silver stone that sparkled in the sunlight. Most things were etched with intricate carvings including the crest, their armor, their shields, their carpets, their clothing; everything. He sat in a lavish throne room. The throne itself was at the bottom of a large monument. The masterpiece rose up as a rectangle column with square inscriptions rising up with it and became a circle. A golden Triforce was in the center with three strange women in silk dresses held it. The throne was made out of a soft red velvet, also etched with darker accents of the same design. The seat was surrounded by an intricately decorated frame of gold. Two other monuments stood on each side of the throne, smaller stone works of art. This was all standing on a platform that lead to a small, ten step stairway and then lead to the rest of the huge throne room. On either side of the room were numerous columns that supported the high ceiling. There were paintings and stands situated symmetrically along the long walls. At the very end of the royal blue carpet was a huge door that used to let white light in, but the Hunter decided to close it. The throne room should not be open to just anyone.

Back in the homeland, his throne was composed of the booty his subordinates had collected during their many excursions to faraway places. They gladly offered him their prizes- symbols of their warrior status and weapon mastery- and he gladly took them. It wasn't a place of useless art. Just treasure.

He thought for a moment. "Do we have command over bulblin forces in Arbiter Grounds?" He questioned. The soldier- one of the many elite warriors from his home- replied, "Indeed. Me and my warriors traveled their as soon as we heard the news they were heading west and secured the stronghold."

The Hunter laughed at his second in command.

"Ah, Dalibora, you never cease to impress me!" The strong, brave warrior blushed, which the Hunter never failed to pick up on. His smile widened, like the cat who just ate the canary.

"Oh, my dear, send all of them to the southwest quadrant of the desert province." She glowed at her new pet name and grinned wickedly,

"Will do, Your Majesty."

* * *

**End Note: **

**I'd like to once again thank all of you wonderful people for following my story! It means so much to me, as this is my first fanfiction story I've ever published. And I'd also like to encourage you to keep reviewing my story. I'd love to know what I can improve on to make it better for the readers!**

**Until next time! **


	6. Quest

**Author's Note:**

**Here we are again! Once again, welcome back to those of you who have been following my story and again, welcome to those of you who are new! So far, I have gained many favorites, follows and reviews and I am so thankful for the people out there who took the time to give my story some recognition! **

**For those of you who love the action in this story, there's more in this chapter!**

**I also forgot to mention last chapter, that Dalibora's name means "Distant Battle"**

* * *

Quest

* * *

Surprisingly, they landed rather gracefully on the ground. Some force of nature had slowed down the speed of gravity as it pulled them harshly towards the world. They landed lightly on the earth. Or maybe not earth...

They had landed on a flat rock island in a sea of sand the color of a lion's mane. All around them were makeshift structures such as bridges, fences and stairs made of dry, old wood doting the scape of the province. There were giant chasms, cracks in the earth, crawling around them like ugly, dead, and thorny branches. Many large stones of all shapes protruded from the sand, all colored a dusty russet. To their left was a rather large cluster of rocks, guarding a beautiful building; an arena looking structure lined with dozens of darkened windows. Seven tall towers circled the arena symmetrically, each with beautifully crafted Hylian symbols. The desert was made up of long, wide plateaus lifting the structures and sand. In the horizon were dry, dead looking mountains that bit the sky with their sharp peaks. Beyond that was no longer Hyrule according to her teacher back home. Heat could literally be seen rising from the ground, coming in waves and distorting their vision slightly.

"We're a-almost there." Tully mused. Thea nodded, still taking in the breathtaking sights. Her feet were burning from the rock. It was still midday and the sun had been hammering the earth with it's strong heat. Sand and stone absorb heat, and without her shoes, her feet were in a little pain. She shrugged it off though. She didn't want to be a burden to Link and Tully.

They had to get moving though. And she really hoped those trolls would not come after them again.

Link and Thea stepped off of the rock after sharing a determined glance. Tully fluttered after them. "W-we must b-be careful." Thea turned to the tiny voice. "Why?" She asked.

A small pit of anxiety landed in her stomach. She really didn't want more trouble. She just had to get the weapon shards and then she could go back to her home. "Th-there are many enemies out h-here. Th-though they steer cl-clear of the Cave of O-Ordeals. B-but-" Thea cut her off.

"There are more of those things out here?! How many?!" She cried. Link cringed. He knew the answer to that question.

"Oh! Hehehe...um...a-a whole a-army..." The fairy ducked away. Thea scanned the horizon nervously.

"Then why are we out in the open!" She demanded.

"Shh! They'll hear y-you!" The fairy screeched.

In a lower voice she grumbled, "Not if they see us first."

Then, as if on cue, the ground began to shake again, like a stampede of horses was speeding towards them.

"I spoke too soon!" Thea whined.

But the enemies that began to attack were not what they were expecting. Clouds of dust sped quickly over mounds of sand that rose with them. Something was burrowing their way towards them. There came four more with the first, and in like an eternal dance.

"Link..." Thea called to the hero nervously. "Do you know what these things are?" Her voice wavered.

With a shriek something jumped up at her and gnashed it's teeth deep into her leg. She yelped when the pain set in her leg; thousands of needles laced with poison sinking deep into her skin. She looked down and focused her gaze on the small creature who was chewing into her leg tortuously. Something that looked like a small worm the color of dirt with shining emerald eyes was attached to her. It squealed with glee as it chomped down harder.

"_Agh!_" She cried out as the monster did this.

Then, Tully was by her. With a small cry she circled around the creature and it turned white before disappearing. Clenching her teeth tightly, she groaned in pain as she clutched her thigh where she had been bitten.

She heard a harsh cry to her right and directed her attention to Link.

He was dynamically and efficiently dispatching all of the little monsters. She watched the frustration set on his brow when more and more seemed to replace each leech. He clenched his teeth as another creature jumped at him and bit his arm. He used his sword arm to pull it fiercely off and threw it far away from him.

Thea swung her head towards the left of them when she heard a familiar choking noise. Link too heard this, and she gasped when she saw fifty- no -hundreds of the trolls waddle over the horizon and line up around them.

They all moved back to back now, turning their heads to look at the trolls that now blocked all of the exits.

At once, Link took off.

"Uh..." Thea uttered as she followed him. She wondered what in the world he was thinking as he charged to a group of fifty bulblins – as Feyer had called them – and began to slice blindly through them. Thea ran to him and remained close by as he cleared a path. Many hands reached out to her. Two had grabbed onto her dress and ripped it even more, so now the hem was at her mid-thigh. She kicked that bulblin in the face hard and continued to watch for more attacks.

They ran again once the way was clear. The sand was shifty, and her heart lurched each time her foot slid in the loose surface. She was at risk of losing footing, and she was aware of what would happen if that were to occur. She would be caught and dragged off to the man who was bent on killing her. They turned over a hill in between two short drops before reaching a tall structure that they were unable to climb. It was too tall and there were no footholds jutting out from the stone. Above one of the stones that was stacked on top of the first lopsided was a tall, strange looking desert tree. It had growths on it that reminded her of a cactus. Then above it, was a flying plant; it's vines reaching down and some soil dropping to the ground in heaps. It twirled around on petal helicopter wings.

Link stared at the tree for a moment before rummaging through one of his leather packs attached to his belt. He fished out two strange looking devices that reminded her of the Hunter's gauntlet and put them on. Thea turned around to stare at the bulblins that were merely five feet away.

Her heart jumped into her throat. She mused for a second on how she had become so used to the feeling of fear. It was like taking a dunk into harsh, ice cold water and as painful as a hundred tiny, sharp needles. She decided she didn't like fear.

As a grubby hand brushed her wrist, something wrapped around her waist and pulled her into something hard, and her feet were off of the ground. She risked a glance down and the bulblins were reaching up to them with short arms in a futile attempt to reach them.

The arm wrapped around her waist released her and she stepped away from him once their hit feet the ground. Something whizzed by her head and she looked back to see dozens of flaming arrows traveling so fast she couldn't see; all aimed for her head. She followed Link for a small distance and they began to climb up a natural set of tall stone steps. With her exhaustion already setting in, she found it difficult to hoist herself up off of the last step. The arrows were all narrowly missing her head but she knew sooner or later they would make their mark. But even challenged with the threat of losing her life, her whole form was shaking and the rims of her vision were darkening, threatening to blacken completely before casting it's spell over her consciousness.

She was dangling from the top step, but she did not have the strength to pull herself up one more time. She gasped as she began to lose her grip on the stone and slide down. She was losing it. She was losing it all. She was deeply frustrated inside; her mind was screaming and wailing for her to get her strength and persevere to continue. _Just...a little...farther! _She assured herself. Despite her inner pleas to her body to muster up more energy, there was no more to keep herself alive.

She was hanging by one hand now, and as her fingers were just about to slide off of the edge of the tall step, two hands clasped onto her arm sharply and she felt herself floating. There was a roar, and she was dragged over the edge of the cliff and fell on her stomach in pure exhaustion. The hands remained on her arm and pulled her body up to her feet and practically dragged her through an entrance marked with stone engraved with tiny, perfect etchings and lead into a black abyss. She gasped as they all plunged into the unknown.

There was a rumbling, and the door behind them closed. Thea squinted her eyes; they were still trying to adjust from a blindingly light desert to a dimly lit cave. When they were properly adjusted, she looked on to see that they were in a dark, octagonal room with walls patterned with weathered, intricate designs. The bricks of the walls were lined with mold and sand. The ground as well was old and dirty, a tinge of greenish blue and yellow and brown.

They both stepped forward and she noticed the large, yet destroyed fountain directly in the center of the room. Thea turned to Tully's voice announcing, "W-we're here." She saw that as they neared the fountain, the fairy's spring green light intensified. They approached the pool, broken in half, which was crafted out of bronze colored stone also etched with swirling designs, but also worn. The etchings could be seen under the clear green water, and in the center of the fountain, was a cloud of blues, greens, yellows and pinks, with orbs of golden light swirling around it. From it, an ominous song the sound of large silver bells chimed and and blended in a lonesome sound.

Link took a step into the ankle deep water of one half of the fountain and halted before the cloud. Tully came to float over his shoulder and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the cloud. Nervous and unsure, Thea remained outside of the fountain.

Suddenly, a brilliant white light started from the heart of the cloud and grew to completely fill the dark room. Thea shielded her eyes from the harsh yet calming light and reopened them when the white receded.

She blinked when she saw before her a beautiful woman. She was of average height, and had ivory skin, long, more prominent ears than the Hylians, gleaming, green pearl hair that covered her almost exposed mid drift, a bleak green skirt loosely tied around her waist, a round face, mellow, softly shaped golden eyes, full lips, a small, button nose, and a criss-cross tattoo wrapped around her upper right arm.

Thea's gazed shifted to the most amazing and noticeable aspect of her appearance. The wings were similar to that of a butterfly's; there were three on each side of her and see through white, like the wisp of a ghost. They had the after colors of light; hues of yellow, pink , purple green and blue on their edges. She was encircled in a mellow, white light. Her whole being was surrounded in the same song of bells.

As soon as the fairy came into view Tully shook and spun around the fairy woman. The woman laughed, the sound of a glockenspiel lyre.

"Elder Sister!" Tully exclaimed.

The woman smiled. "Well, hello Little Sister Tully. You seem unharmed." She turned to Link. "And you have brought the Hero Chosen by the Gods here."

Her golden eyes scanned the room before resting on Thea's gray eyes.

"And Miss Althea Vinet."

Tully floated a little ways away from the woman, finished with her greeting yet still very close. The woman raised her hands as if to hug them.

"Step forward, Althea Isabella Vinet." Thea was surprised to say the least, and in awe of the beautiful woman before her. She gulped in nervousness and took a few tentative steps until she rested to Link's right. The woman's smile widened as the young woman came into the light.

"Ah! There you are!" The woman's smile reminded her so much of her own mother's smile. She had a caring, and loving nature to her, like Cecilia.

"It is truly an honor to meet you! I am the Great Fairy. I am the leader of all fairies in Hyrule." Thea's training kicked in. She curtsied, bowing her head low as a show of respect for the woman. When the she rose back up to her full height, the woman nodded her head and continued.

"I trusted my Little Sister Tully to guide you here so that I may speak with you."

Her smile slipped off of her lips.

"You have been pursued here by the Hunter's minions. He has captured Hyrule Castle Town, it's Queen, and it's people in one night. Now that he has a stronghold, he will extend his power to the far reaches of Hyrule and use his connections to pursue you."

Thea gained the courage to speak at the Great Fairy's words and stepped forward. "What _exactly _does he want from me?" The Great Fairy met her eyes with a measured gaze but did not respond immediately.

"Tully told me that I'm-" Thea's eyes flicked over to Link, and then back to the fairy. "I'm the wielder of the Triforce of Power..." She trailed off, but the Great Fairy understood what Thea wanted to know.

"I assume you have been taught the origins of the Triforce of Power?" Thea shook her head. "I vaguely remember." She answered. The Great Fairy nodded. "Alright. I shall tell you."

"There was a time when the world was pure chaos. But, the Golden Goddesses descended to make things right. Din created the material world, Farore created life, and Nayru created law and order. After they were done, they left the Triforce, each shard representing the essence of each of them. They entrusted the Triforce to the Goddess Hylia, but unfortunately, she could no longer protect it when she gained a mortal form. Each shard was separated when mortals, the only beings able to wield them, sought their power for their selfish intentions. When evil arose, wielding the Triforce of Power, the other two Triforces were entrusted by the Goddesses to those worthy of it. Together they brought evil down. Throughout time, the Triforce of Power was reincarnated into the hands of evil, all who sought supremacy over others. But this time, the Triforce sought a different host. One of pure good." She explained.

"Why?" Was all Thea managed to utter.

"I do not know. We fairies used to be the messengers and helpers to the Goddesses and would know these things, but were sent here to carry out their order of helping the humans. Thus our communication was severed. But, I do know that you have a difficult time ahead of you."

Thea took in a breath of air and did not realize that she began to hold it.

"The Triforce of Power can be extremely unstable. Despite the pure intentions of it's host, there are certain...side-effects."

Her heart leaped into her throat and pranced.

"Though you are granted invulnerability, vast strength, and an unlimited source of magical power, be warned. If you are in danger, or in emotional distress, it's powers will awaken. Whether you're actions are on purpose or by accident, the affects are devastating."

Thea gulped. "B-but...I never _wanted _power!" She cried.

The Great Fairy gave her a knowing look.

"But you did."

Thea was taken aback.

The fairy continued.

"Though, your reasons to seek it are not ill, you have lived a noble's life. It is one full of rules. You wanted to escape a fate thrust upon you. You wanted the power to make choices of your own."

With a shuddering breath, Thea gasped, "How do you know so much about me?" A smile spread like butter over the woman's lips. "Fairies have empathy. We know, and experience, what other beings feel." She lost her smile again.

"The Hunter has a device. One that can only be activated by the raw energy emitted from the Triforce of Power. He cannot take for himself and wield the power of any Triforce, because he is not mortal."

Link, Thea and Tully gasped at this new revelation.

"He used red magic, specific to the Gerudo, to make himself immortal when he was still a child. It was only after that he realized he wanted more than anything, a shard of the Triforce. After years of ingenuity and tireless work, he created the device that would imprison the wielder of the Triforce of Power and allow him to use the power as his own."

She turned to Link. "We cannot allow the Hunter to capture Althea Vinet. If this were to happen, it would lead to untold disasters. Thus, I pray you seek out the shards of a special fairy weapon scattered throughout the temples. Tully will guide you." The little green fairy started at her name. "Our magic and red magic oppose, and are the only forces able to destroy each other. That is how the Hunter was able to break our fountain and deplete our power greatly. Thus, this weapon has the power to defeat him. It was given to us by the Goddesses for purposes such as this."

She turned to Thea. "You must stay by the Hero's side at all times until this conflict is resolved. He alone has the power to protect you from the grasp of the Hunter."

The Great Fairy smiled.

"I am weak. All of us fairies are. But I can grant you the last of my power and send you to a safe place to rest. I know you have been running for a long time. Let me-"

She lifted a dainty arms towards them.

"Help you."

They were encased in a white light, the sound of silver bells chiming in the air all around them.

"Farewell..."

"And good luck..."

* * *

**End Note: Some replies to reviews...**

**Lainare: Yes, Dalibora definitely does not have good taste in men. That little crush may be important later on...**

**Airheadninja: I definitely understand that reference! I love the Princess Bride!**

**Epicness: I am so honored that my story is in your top 5 favorites! Thank you!**

**Until next time!**


	7. Home

**Author's Note: **

**Hello! Here we are once again! The next chapter in Thea's journey is here! And again, thank you to those who have been reading and reviewing and making this story a part of your favorites list, it means a lot! And if you have any questions or comments, do not be afraid to review or send a PM!**

* * *

Home

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she flinched at the abrupt sunlight that contrasted with the cool darkness of the cave they were just in only moments ago. The white glow surrounding them faded as they all adjusted their eyesight to the sun's rays. After rubbing her eyes twice and blinking, Thea cataloged the sights around her.

They were standing in a ginormous, walled off field surrounded by cliffs of stone and spring green mountains towering just overhead to the south. There was a pathway to the north. What wasn't surrounded by mountains was walled off by fence lined with goldenrod and decorated with strings of green cards twisting in the wind. There was a wide wooden barn with two huge wooden doors with horns for handles that opened into a dark barn filled with dozens of stalls and littered with clumps of hay. The building itself was covered from front to back in spring ivy that draped over the log bordered windows.

She then heard a sound between a moan and a snort. Her heart leaped into her throat and pounded as she jumped in fear. She was ready to run again, but then noticed that the strange noise did not come from any sort of threat. Actually, Thea had no idea what it was. There were dozens of goat creatures with gray fur that yellowed along their backs and on their legs. Their striped horns grew into each other to create a loop above their heads that were most likely used from ramming into other goats or pushing obstacles away. They had two sets of ears and their chests were decorated with thick, white fur. They looked to be rather stubborn but peaceful nonetheless.

"HEEEEYYYY!"

Thea shrieked at the bellow and spun around to find that the loud yell came from a man who was running up to them. She once again ordered herself to calm down. He looked rather friendly.

_He means no harm, he means no harm. _

She followed the man's gaze and saw Link, who was not looking at the approaching person but at her, a smirk playing on his lips.

He was laughing at her reaction.

Somewhat frustrated at this, she huffed and crossed her arms, scowling.

She turned her attention to the newcomer when he caught up to them after the long run across the field. He leaned forward, huffing, before standing up again after catching his breath.

"Hey! Link!"

He flashed the eighteen-year-old a lopsided grin. "Haven't seen you 'round here for a while, huh?" He lifted a bear paw of a hand and slapped the boy on the back affectionately.

The man had a narrow, long head topped with reddish brown hair, freckle dusted cheeks, thick eyebrows, small ears, a rather large nose, a tiny mouth, a thick neck and a muscular physique with tanned skin. Thea could tell he was the farmer that worked this land. His green eyes, the color of the emeralds she was told to wear at the balls back home, darted away from Link and rested on her. A grin spread slowly across his pink lips.

"Hey, Link, whose your friend here?"

Thea, being rather shy, cast her gaze towards the ground at the sudden spotlight.

"I-I'm Thea." She muttered, still finding the ground suddenly fascinating.

The man replied, "Well, I'm Fado!"

She looked up to meet his eyes. He turned on Link, slapping him in the shoulder. Comically, Link grunted with surprise and took a couple large steps back. Rubbing his shoulder discontentedly, he scowled at Fado.

"Link! You miserable excuse for a man, where are your manners?"

He grinned wickedly now, placing his large, calloused hands on his hips with sass. "You bring a beautiful girl here and don't show her around?"

Link gasped with surprise.

The farmer wagged his eyebrows. "If you're not careful, someone with better manners will steal her away!" A deep, bellowing laughter erupted out of him at seeing Link's obviously flustered expression.

"Alright! Well, Miss, I guess it looks like _I'll_ have to show you around!" He motioned for them both to follow him. How strange. Thea had never encountered someone such as outgoing and bold as Fado. He was very carefree. Back home, such acts were frowned upon, and even received retribution. It was "Filthy Peasant manner", as her father once put it when she was very small. But there was something so kind in his eyes. He was not being rude or mean. He was rather humorous.

He and Link were side by side, Fado babbling to him while Link nodded. A small, but peaceful smile graced the hero's lips. Link and Fado obviously knew each other. This prompted her to jog up to them and ask Fado,

"Excuse me," In a small voice, she continued,

"but where are we?"

They walked through a wide road and down a small hill and then through a gate. Fado extended his hands out to what lay ahead of them. "Welcome to Ordon Village, Miss Thea!"

The town was quaint. There was a tiny dirt path that lead people to their homes, which, to Thea's amazement, were made from giant tree trunks. The whole town was surrounded by thick, green forest and a creek so clear you could see through it. To the left was a house, much larger that the rest, with the trunks of trees protruding to frame the double wooden doors. It was on a wooden platform, and another one allowed a person to walk up to it. The house had a purple shingled roof and was decorated with fabrics and goat horns. To the right was a small fence. If you continued down the path that was now bordered with more fence and past the purple roofed house there was a tiny bridge across the creek. The path veered off in two directions. To the right it bent around a tiny raise in the earth before leading up to a round house on a lazy hill on the creek's edge. The house here was similar to the large house but smaller and not on a raised platform. It had it's back to a large wall of rock. The the left of the path it branched off again. The left of this branch lead to a larger bridge that lead to a taller, skinnier house attached to a water wheel that creaked and groaned as it scooped up water. After the bridge was a small lot that contained two pumpkin patches, a tall tree and a picnic bench, all near the house. To the right of the branch were two more houses. The first was of pink roofing and had a wind mill sweeping through the air. The other house was built into a stone wall that surrounded the town and was under a ginormous tree. There were rock formations dotting the area. They rose out of the ground and river. The town was walled off by small mountains and thick forests of pine and oak. Huge trees grew out of the ground in a few placed throughout the town. The river rolled through with a slow and peaceful current. At the very end of the town it deepened considerably and ended at a small pond. The whole village was dotted with white flower patches. There were twittering birds twirling around in circles. White butterflies fluttered by.

Everything was open. The vibe to it invited people to do as they wished. Things here were lazy. Never fast paced, never demanding, and never threatening.

Thea closed her eyes in bliss as a gentle breeze combed through her hair. It carried the scent of the pines in the surrounding forest, sunflower seeds, and rain. The air back home was stuffy. It irritated her nose with perfume and soap. But the air here smelled of the musty, fresh smell of soil. Things weren't perfect here.

No, it _was_ perfect here.

Perfectly imperfect.

And that imperfection drew her in like a magnet. She wanted to get to know this town.

"Do you live here...Link..?" Thea breathed, still taking in the breathtaking sites of this inconspicuous, and seemingly forgettable town.

Fado answered for him. "Sure thing! He's lived here all his life!" That brought Thea out of her stupor. Because Link was rather quiet, he usually never got a chance to answer for himself (Thea had never heard him speak once since she'd met him) Tully answered for him, just as Fado had done just then. Thea wondered where Tully was. She hadn't thought of her once since they got there. She whirled around, checking pockets.

"listen..."

And saw a flash of green in one of Link's pouches on his belt. Breathing a sigh of relief, she was lead down to the rest of the town.

As they continued down the path, three children came sprinting up to the group.

"LINK!" They all shouted at once.

They were grinning from ear to ear, practically vibrating from excitement. Link offered them a simple smile in greeting. There was a boy, who was tall. He had spiky brown hair tied with a red cloth, tiny but thick eyebrows arched in a way that made him appear mischievous, the same emerald eyes as Fado, and held a stick tied with ribbons in his right hand. Next to him was a girl that appeared a little older than him due to her height, with perfectly placed honey blond hair with a red clip fastened near the hairline, a good dusting of freckles over a button nose, thin, peach colored lips, small ears adorned with simple earrings, and fair skin. After her was a tiny boy with infant-like features, the same green eyes as the other boy, and with the same eyebrows, just relaxed.

They clustered around him, the boys asking question after question.

"How was your trip to Castle Town? Did you see the Queen?!" the taller of the boys asked.

The little girl shot the other children a cold glare.

"You brats! Stop asking him so many questions! He just got back home, so give him some breathing space!"

She then turned to Link. "So how was your trip?" She batted her eyelashes at the young man.

The taller boy started. "Hey! You just asked him the same question! I thought we weren't supposed to ask him questions!" He folded his arms and smirked triumphantly. The youngest of the trio rolled his eyes.

The girl tapped her foot. "I only asked him so you would leave him alone." Then she caught sight of Thea. "Hey, who's that?" She pointed at the older girl.

"Beth!" A scold shot out through the air and the girl called Beth cringed. A couple, most likely her parents, walked up to the forming group. "Don't point at people, it's rude!" Her father scolded, a tinge of anger not in his squinty eyes but in his voice. "I'm sorry..." Beth frowned at the ground. "Hanch!" A woman also with green eyes, thin eyebrows, familiar honey blond hair and very large in physique glared at her husband. "Leave Beth alone, for the Gods' sake!" There was slight tension between the two. Beth scooted towards her mother who enclosed her arms around her daughter and stroked her hair. Hanch remained quiet but looked rather peeved.

"Talo! Malo! Where are you?" A man and a woman then joined the crowd. "C'mon, Jaggle!" The woman motioned for the man to hurry. The woman also had green eyes; the woman that Thea knew was the boys' mother for she had the same short, pointed eyebrows. She held a large dish in her hand and was stroking it as if she had not yet gotten all of the spots off of the obviously sparkling plate. The man was short, also had squinting eyes, and a lot of chest hair. "Why did you drag me out of my nap Pergie..." He grumbled lazily. Talo and Malo also returned to their parents.

A very loud voice, louder than Fado's, boomed over the chattering crowd.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

All of the people were silenced and parted to let a man through. He was a very tall, muscular man, yet retained a potbelly. He had a bald head, a low set mouth curved in a frown, closed eyes, arched eyebrows, stretched earlobes, and two peculiar horns growing out of his cheeks. He opened both of his eyes to see the people before him. Thea shrunk back a little, intimidated by his judging stare at her. Link however, seemed completely fine. Then she remembered that this was his hometown.

He then walked up to Link.

There were a few silent moments where the two just stared at each other, and everyone else stared at them. Then, the big man wrapped his arms, as thick as logs, around Link and crushed him in a bear hug. Link was awkwardly lifted off of the ground and grunted in surprise. After the hug was over, the loud man boomed, "Link! Welcome home!" Link smiled warmly when he was set down.

Thea looked around her.

These were his people.

They were all dressed with either shorts or smocks, with some sort of tank-top and another cloth wrapped around their waists. They all wore earthy colors, and something about each of their outfits portrayed something pertaining to nature. Back home, all of her clothes, and the clothes of the other noble families, were usually bright, royal colors adorned with beautiful jewels and metals that were always complicated and included many layers. At the balls that Thea went to, the noble children of her generation were clean, graceful, and always did as told. They were like statues, each and every one of them. Depicted as the artist wanted them to look. They acted as they were told. All except for Thea.

Thea was rather shy and steered clear of the other noble teenagers and young adults, the heirs to their titles. Gilda often had to pull her aside and chide her for her abnormal behavior, warning the young woman of her father's anger. Thea would reluctantly join the others, all whom she'd known since childhood but never made friends with or got along with, and listened to them all drag on about politics, war, and money.

The people here though, were all different. They had colorful personalities, and all looked different. They acted as they wished. Something about that drew her in; it made her grow more fond of the little town by the second.

She wondered what sort of things they talked about here.

Then all the attention was on her.

"Link, who's this you've brought here?"

Thea, as always, shied away from the voice. For some reason, she drew closer to Link. The second she was aware of their close proximity -something Link had yet to notice- she blushed fiercely and her heart did a little jig inside her chest.

_What in the world...?_

Fado, as usual, answered the big man. "This here's Thea!" He scratched the top of his head, squinting at the distant mountains. "Uh..I'm not really sure why she's here, but-"

Another voice cut in.

"My word! Whatever happened to you!"

Thea looked up sharply to see that the voice came from a woman of short blond hair, with soft, blue eyes, and a kind aura surrounding her. She looked extremely concerned, and that's when it hit her.

She was a wreck.

Her dress was torn on both sleeves and on the skirt, she was covered in mud, her hair was thick with masses of knots and there was dried blood and teeth marks on her legs and arms. All of the townspeople gasped at her appearance. All at once, there was a chatter of questions and exclamations.

"Link, what happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"We need to get a healer!"

"Poor dear!"

"Where did she come from?"

"Who is she?"

"What should we do?"

"QUIET!"

The loud man roared again, his booming voice like a sword that swiftly killed the babble of concerned voices.

"Uli, please take care of this girl." The man the people called Bo the mayor during their prattling ordered. Uli, who first noticed the young girl's state, walked up to Thea with kind eyes, took her wrists in a gentle grip and lead her away. Thea looked over her shoulder and worriedly eyed her only guide and protection, who nodded with a slight frown, letting her know that it was fine. Thea turned back towards their destination.

They walked up a wooden porch and through a door that lead into a squishy, squat house with a purple roof decorated like the others. Inside, everything was wooden. They stepped on an ornate carpet that was a little crooked, and Uli closed the door softly.

"My husband Rusl is teaching my son how to sword fight out in Faron Woods, and they won't be back until late at night. It's just us girls here. Me, you, and my little daughter." She said with a voice so sweet, it reminded her of roses.

There were white carpets everywhere that covered the table, a wall, as a towel, a shelf cover, and an end table cover. Several shelves lined the walls, supporting mismatched pots, plates, cups, spoons, plates and tools. At the north was a stone fireplace with a huge kettle over a crackling fire. There was a wooden armchair, a toy horse painted blue and weathered, and a other chairs around a table, where yarn and sewing tools and plates sat. There were potted plants everywhere, and pipes of copper lining the ceiling and also by the fireplace for smoke. It was warm, and smelled of honey. The Manor was surrounded by stone walls and the scent of artificial flowers hung in the air like a thick cloud. This place seemed more of a home than the manor. It drew people in like a warm embrace.

Uli lead Thea to a wooden tub and sat her down while she fetched bucket after bucket of water, boiled it over the fire, and dumped it all in the tub. It took her an hour, and was most likely back wrenching work. Thea was stripped from her clothes, washed, her hair was brushed of all knots and cleaned until it shined again, and then was dried. She was dressed in a white nightgown made out of wool, and then was placed in bed. The whole time Uli remained quiet, focusing greatly on her work, and Thea was too exhausted to speak. The full force of all that happened the past two days hit her like ten foot waves. So the minute her head hit the pillow, while the sun had just escaped over the mountains, she was out like a light.

* * *

Much had happened. She was attacked by a terrifying enemy, saved, was ripped from her home and driven out of the city, was injured, passed out, woke up in mud, told she was the wielder of the Triforce of Power, met a real life fairy, was chased, plummeted one hundred feet down into a lake, almost drowned, was launched by a cannon, was almost eaten and killed by monsters in a desert, met a real life Great Fairy, was told she had to run around Hyrule searching for a fairy weapon that would defeat the same horrifying enemy and save the kingdom, then was brought back to a village and met a dozen new people. That, and try to figure out why her heart stampeded in her chest and why she felt like she just ran one hundred miles every time she got close to a certain boy...

* * *

**End Note: **

**This chapter was slower than the others. It would have been cruel of me not to give poor Thea a break! I also wanted to establish some romantic stuff between two certain characters...**

**Questions? Comments? Contact me!**


	8. Safety

**Author's Note: **

**This chapter is a tiny bit late. Usually I publish at 3 pm, but there was a lot going on, and I ran out of pre-written chapters! But, not to worry, I have no more school so I've got a lot of time to write these chapters. At least I got it out on Friday, as I promised! To those of you who were waiting, I'm sorry! I can assure you there's no worse feeling than going to your favorite in-progress fanfiction and seeing that the author has not updated it yet! UGH!**

**This chapter is once again slower. We're going to spend just ONE more chapter in Ordon! Don't worry, Thea and Link are just preparing for the rest of their journey! So, here it is!**

* * *

Safety

* * *

She awoke with beautiful, golden light spilling over her eyes. It was caught in her hair, making it gleam almost violet over the ebony curls. It was a nice way to wake up. Usually, back at the manor, Gilda and the other maids would come bursting through the door.

"Up, I say! It's a brand new day!" She would chirp, and then would throw open the curtains, blasting direct sunlight into her eyes. Not the way the gold crept over her eyelids slowly, like that morning in Ordon.

She yawned, squeezing her eyes shut while stretching her arms out. What a nice sleep. Not disturbed by monsters, both in dreams and in reality. She felt healthy, energized with the light of the sun that peeked over the treetops in the forest. She opened her eyes and found Uli by the fireplace, carrying water buckets to boil.

Thea jumped out of the bed and offered her assistance. Back home, she was never allowed to do hard work and chores. Only focus on her academic studies. Nonetheless, Thea wondered what it was like to carry buckets full of water like she'd seen many servants do.

"Let me help you!"

Thea reached for one of the heavy looking buckets in Uli's white knuckled hands. Uli shook her head with a sweet smile spreading over her rose lips. "No need! You have been through much."

Thea tilted her head in confusion. The woman laughed. "Link told us everything this morning. It's a small town, you know! The people here crave gossip!" Thea smiled. It wasn't the kind of hurtful rumors the nobles her age spread around. It was good-natured gossip, born out of concern for one another.

Uli dumped the two buckets of water into the kettle, where they began to boil, and set the wooden containers down.

After rubbing her hips, she said, "I have some clothes for you. Come with me."

She was lead to a chest where Uli rummaged through the fabrics. While she searched, she informed over her shoulder, "I know you have a bit of a long journey ahead of you, so I'll pack everything you might need."

"No no!" Thea waved her arms exaggeratedly.

Uli turned around.

"Really, you don't need to go through all the trouble and sacrifice your own things just for me!" The younger woman explained.

Uli chuckled. "Don't worry. I want to help you! It would be wrong of me not to! And anyways, most of these clothes are from when I was young. I don't fit into this anymore..." She trailed off as she pulled out something yellow. She folded a few things and placed them in the young girl's hands. "Change into this." The woman told her, and Thea nodded. She left the woman to finish packing items into a leather rucksack and began changing.

When she had finished, she looked at herself in the mirror.

Not a single, priceless string of thread could match the beauty of these new clothes. She was wearing a mellow golden tank-top dress, with a square neckline and accented with tiny daisies. The skirt flowed and reached down a little below her knees. Under it were bistre colored leggings that ended at her mid-calves. Then she tied leather arm bands of the same color on both of her upper arms and leather guards on her forearms. She also received a piece of cloth to tie around her waist. It was the size of a towel, but rather thick as it was made of some sort of wool. Thea assumed it was taken from the goats in the ranch nearby. It was the color of cerulean blue, and was decorated with swirling borders and waves. She used a yellow ribbon to tie it around her waist and found that it was crooked but was tasteful, and reached to the end of her hips. Lastly, she slipped on two leather sandals, with straps that fastened around the top of her foot and around her ankles. The whole outfit was less confining but less likely to tear or break like her delicate blue gown, which was in shreds. Then, Uli wrapped Thea's long, loose ebony curls into a braid, letting a few long curls frame her face.

Uli smiled. "There!"

Thea turned and expressed her deep gratitude for the woman's help.

"Oh, It's nothing!" The woman laughed.

Thea sat down at the table and found her gaze, as usual, wandering out the window. She caught sight of Link, who was talking to Mayor Bo.

From there, she observed how he stood; with squared feet and shoulders, set jaw, and strong build. He stood as if he was ready to take on the world; like he was ready to save the kingdom. At the same time, she had never seen him so relaxed. He was in his element here, with his people in his hometown. Here, was safety.

Still staring at him, Thea asked, "Uli...pardon me if I ask...but..."

Uli waited in silence.

"What is Link's story?"

The woman followed the teen's gaze and sat down at the table, a cup in her hand. She sighed.

"We really don't know who his parents were. We found him eighteen years ago in a basket floating down the river. From then on, Mayor Bo, my husband Rusl, and the other townsfolk raised him. When he turned ten, we all helped build his house and got him a job as a farmhand. On the side, Rusl taught him everything he knows about sword fighting. The boy was a natural from the start. Whatever weapon he picked up, he mastered it the minute he laid his fingers on the handle."

She smiled.

"He and the other children, and this whole town, lived a life of peace. Then a year ago..."

Thea understood. It happened to everyone. There was confusion and fear- oh, and the darkness. So much darkness.

"So, I take it your from one of the noble families?"

Thea stuttered, as always when she was caught in the spotlight. She nodded sheepishly. Uli smiled brightly, closing her eyes."I could tell by your fancy dress and your ears!" Thea reached up to touch the tips of her ears.

She hadn't noticed it until now. The people here had round ears. Thea wondered what happened to cause this. She thought all Hylians had distinct, sharp ears. Maybe because Ordon Village was so far away from Hyrule Castle Town. She remembered _some_ of her Hyrule geography.

"You should go and talk to Mayor Bo. He most likely wants to know what happened to you." The woman advised. Thea nodded and stood up from her chair. With one last thank you, Thea walked out the door and was met with the beautiful golden sunlight of the morning.

Instead of the familiar clicking of her heels against granite, a barely audible, soft thumping and the whisper of grass met her feet. She smiled at this, and took a deep breath of fresh air. The birds were chirping, the people were laughing.

_So this is what freedom feels like..._

Link caught sight of her as she approach. He smiled and she smiled back in greeting. She approached the pair, curios to hear what the mayor would ask. She came to a stop, and found that she was under the watchful eyes of the bear-like mayor. Averting her eyes in nervousness, she clasped her hands behind her back and held her breath.

After what seemed like forever, he finally spoke.

"Link's told me much about you."

She lifted her head to finally meet Bo's eyes, who was frowning. "Seems like you've been through a lot. You and Link both." She nodded, then turned her chin down to hide her face, yet still held eye contact.

"So, I have Link's side of the story. What's yours?"

It was time that she let these people know what was going on. They were most likely scared, confused, and concerned. And no doubt wondering whether she herself was a threat, or would bring them trouble. Who could blame them, though? After the Darkness, everybody became on edge. Even after a year, the people of Hyrule still found it difficult to trust one another.

So she began at the beginning. "My full name is Althea Isabella Vinet." She started. But then she caught herself. Despite her previous vow, she was hesitant to let them know _everything_. If these people knew exactly who she was, the Hunter and his minions would come after them for sure. She looked around, at all of the nature and balance and peace, and decided that she never wanted such a free place to be touched by such evil. "A man named the Hunter has taken over Hyrule, and is currently in search of me. I don't know why."

"Link and I are going to stop him." She finished.

It was nice.

Saying it out loud.

Thea had never really excepted her mission, or even who she was, until now. And it was assuring. Knowing that she could stop this madman from taking over the only home she'd ever known.

She stole a glance at Link, who was staring at Bo with the same determination he wore during battle. She knew that he agreed with not telling Bo everything.

The Mayor nodded. There was some deep understanding in his eyes. They were wrinkled; weathered from time and experience. She wondered what adventures he had went on when he was young.

"Father!"

A crystalline voice called. They all turned to see a girl of Thea's age rush to them. Her eyes were locked onto Links, laughter shining in their green hues.

She stopped in front of Link.

The two stared at each other for a while.

Silence.

Then, she smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She pulled back, her hands on his shoulders and looking him up and down. "No injuries. Good!" She grinned.

"You better not have been in those dreaded dungeons again!" She stuck a finger in front of his face, mock intimidation. Link just smiled and shook his head.

Thea didn't know what to think of this girl. Obviously, she and Link knew each other well.

She never knew anybody well like that.

The girl looked over Link's shoulder, towards the ranch. Tilting her head to the side, blond, sweeping, short hair falling over her forehead, she asked, "Link, is Epona at the ranch? Can I go see her?"

Link cringed.

Thea made the connection that Epona was his horse.

The girl saw his face.

"Link.." Her voice, once bright as a flute, became dangerously low.

"Where is my horse?"

Link did not answer.

Then she exploded.

"You _lost Epona?!_" She shouted.

Her father tried to step in.

"Now, Ilia-" He was cut off.

"Link! I thought I told you to take care of her!" Then she broke down into an anxiety attack. "Oh! Poor Epona! Where is she? What has become of her? She's probably cold and hungry and scared!" She turned on Link again, who had fear in his eyes. Thea found it peculiar that this girl could strike nervousness in the young man who'd faced armies of bulblins and fiercely protected her just the day before. "And it's all because of you!" She concluded.

Seeing Link's dismay at angering his friend, Thea stepped in.

"I'm really sorry." For the first time, Ilia noticed the other presence in the group. Her deep green orbs eyed the Hylian carefully. Gulping, fearful of her wrath, she continued. "Link was trying to help me. We were attacked. But his horse ran away when he was fighting. And you must be so worried. Epona must be really important to you. But don't yell at him. It was because of me that this all happened..." She trailed off, her stormy gray eyes not daring to meet the other deep emerald ones that must have been glaring.

"Oh."

Thea looked up.

Ilia still looked stressed. She was obviously worried for her lost horse.

"I-I just need to take a breath." She cast Link another look, one that was blurred. Thea couldn't read it. After she disappeared behind the wooden door of her father's home, Bo sighed.

Scratching his head, he said, "I'm sorry. She's a bit of a handful."

He turned to Thea. "Why don't you check in with Uli. I don't think Rusl has met you yet.

Nodding, and waving sheepishly at Link - she was feeling sorry for him in his predicament – she returned to the squat little house in the corner of the town.

When she walked in through the front door, just as Bo had said, Rusl was there waiting for her.

He was an older man, with blond hair like many in the town and a white headband wrapped around his head. He looked just like an adventuring man from her mother's old stories. Dark, tanned skin, rough looks, and a bold personality. Not like the men back at her home; light skinned, from their days under the war tents as generals and commanders, and pristine looks.

"Not like those mongrels" Her father would grumble.

He wore mostly green, and had a simple sword in it's sheath strapped on his back.

It struck a memory within Thea.

_Her father's sword. She remembered him speaking with the other Noble heads when she was young. She leaned over the balcony to listen. _

_"Crafted from the finest Azurine by the greatest blacksmith in the kingdom." He gloated. _

_The other men observed as he tested the weight of the blade, tossing it expertly between one hand and the other._

_"A cross between a rapier and a longsword. Not so flimsy to be a pirate's sword, but not so heavy to be a barbarian's tool. Long but not too long. And expertly crafted. See the designs."_

_She leaned forward more to get a look at it. The designs were graceful, elegant swirls and patterns. They depicted an ocean. The blade itself was a deep Caribbean blue, but was see through, like ice. The handle was the same way, only there was a black leather grip for proper use. _

_"A demonstration, perhaps?" One of the older men, the father to the oldest of the heirs, asked. _

_"Certainly." Her father answered. He began to swing the sword in dance-like twirls in his hands, the metal singing as it sliced through the air..._

_She was pulled away from the window by Gilda, and chided for her misbehavior. Her duties needed to be attended to. But the memory of the beautiful sword stayed with her all these years..._

Rusl noticed her just as she slipped out of the memory. He stepped over to her. "I've heard much about you." He smiled, the wrinkles between his eyes definitely there not from stress, but from laughter. Smiling politely back, but not uncomfortable around these people, she curtsied as taught to her.

"Well, I know that curtsey! Just like your mother!"

She shot right up from her position.

"Y-You knew my mother?!" She gasped.

He chuckled. "Sure did. Was her bodyguard for a few years before you were born. Nice lady."

His expression changed.

"She was a close friend of mine. Was a shame she went the way she did.." Casting her eyes down at the painful memory, she frowned.

_Your fault. _

Suddenly, the door burst open and a small boy of maybe ten years of age rushed in. He had a wooden sword and shield strapped securely to his back.

"I'm back!" He announced his presence.

Rusl smirked at his son. "What monsters did you take down? What lands did you save? And princesses?" He joked.

Making a disgusted face, he answered, "The princesses just get in the way!"

Thea wondered for a split second whether she was in the way.

Rusl laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "And are you aware that Link has returned home?" The boy's eyes went as wide as saucers. One second he was there, and the next he was gone. She didn't even see him move. The door was slammed shut.

"Colin truly adores Link. He's his source of all inspiration." Uli smiled fondly at the door his son exited out of. "Yeah. If only he'd give me the time of day." Rusl grumbled, and Uli laughed.

There was a cry, and Uli dropped her spoon in the pot and rushed over to the crib. And out came the baby girl she'd heard of the night before. She had rosy cheeks, green eyes like her father, and porcelain skin like her mother.

"Lucy! Shh! Shh!" She cooed, but to no avail. The little girl continued to wait her eyes out. Rusl sighed. "She's been so uneasy these past few days. It's so unlike her..." He explained. Without thinking, Thea crossed the room and silently pleaded Uli to give her Lucy. The minute the baby went into her arms she was silent. All looked on with wide eyes.

"Wow." Rusl blurted. "If only it were that easy!" He chuckled.

Handing the little one back into the arms of the mother, Uli said, "We named her Lucy. After the light that came back to Hyrule. She was our light. She brought us happiness again after the darkness." Her rosy lips pulled down into a frown. "Because she was born during the darkness, we think she can be sensitive to things. She's especially restless lately..."

Thea turned to look out the window. She saw children playing. She saw birds chirping. She saw people laughing. She hoped, no, she _begged _that nothing would happen to this paradise.

* * *

**End Note: For those of you who are waiting for more action, it will come! This chapter is very important in my writing process, so pay attention later on! You may see some themes coming back in later chapters... **

**Until next time!**


	9. Restart

**Author's Note:**

**It's Friday again! Posting a new chapter makes my favorite day of the week ten times better! Well, you are all really lucky because this is a long chapter! And an exciting one! Okay, enough of me talking. Here it is!**

* * *

Restart

* * *

That same day, after waiting a little while, Thea went to find Ilia. Even though she barely knew the girl, she had just met her in fact, she was worried. She saw her a few times that day, and received rather cold looks from the Ordon girl before she darted away. Thea hoped, since it had been a while, that Link's childhood friend had cooled down a little.

She searched the town, in every nook and cranny, but did not find her. She asked Bo, who replied, "Try Ordon spring. Ilia liked to go there with Epona." After receiving the directions, she traveled to the spring.

She went through a tall wooden gate decorated with a pair of horns that lead to a short pass. After, she found herself in a small, peaceful clearing. Directly ahead of her was a quaint little house built into a tree, raised about ten feet off of the ground. Like some of the other houses in Ordon, it had a purple roof. But what caught her eye was what was above a round door. Horns were holding a small, green, white and blue tapestry.

And in the center, was the golden symbol of Hyrule.

She never really thought much of the symbol. She was taught the folklore behind it, but merely thought it as a myth before the start of her journey. But as she stared at the three triangles, she couldn't help but think that one of those shards belonged to her. The one that represented power.

She shook that thought from her head. Thinking about that fact threw her into an anxiety attack and put an incredible weight on her shoulders. And above all, she desired not to be slowed down by problems in her life.

To the west was some sort of training area. On the tall pine trees were poorly painted, and scuffed up red targets. Below them was a single dummy, with rusted, makeshift iron armor, broomstick arms and a pumpkin head. By all of the clues here, she figured that this was Link's house. Thea knew that Link was an accomplished swordsman; she'd seen him. She imagined a young Link and Rusl practicing on the cute dummy. Smiling faintly, she looked to the east, where the rest of the tiny path continued, so she walked on.

The path lead to thick forest; giant tree trunks bent over the path like an archway, and leaves blanketed the sky. The way ahead was dark, but she went on anyways.

She traveled through another clearing; this one not very special. It was just surrounded by stone walls while weeds rose up in groups here and there. The ground was covered in tree roots that criss-crossed like some kind of secret puzzle, and the occasional rock sat lonely in a few places.

Going on, the rock wall reaching high and curving on her left, she came to a fork in the road. If she walked on, she would come to a long, wooden bridge. But she wanted to go right.

Through a gap between two trees, she came to the spring.

It was...the most gorgeous place she had ever seen.

After a tiny, soft, sandy beach was water so blue and clear it was as if from a dream. Trees surrounded the little enclave and two were rooted on either side of the sand. Ahead, where the water got deeper, was a tiny, wide waterfall, where giant, rounded stones with strange markings etched into them sat. Behind that was a small cliff lined with thick moss. It climbed towards the sky while three, thin, long waterfalls streamed into the spring. Distant, faded mountains rose in the distance. A single, wide rainbow sprang above the whole scene to top it off.

She was surprised to see a dozen, glistening white fairies fluttering lazily in circles around each other. And in the center of their cluster, was Ilia. She was staring at the waterfall, her back to the entrance. Thea could tell she was deep in thought. Most likely trying to muddle through tangled emotions.

Thea was about to step into the spring but hesitated. The water was only a a foot deep in the shallow end, and most likely up to her waist in the deep end. Nevertheless, she was still anxious when around water. Ever since landing in lake Hylia and almost drowning she was nervous around water. She still couldn't swim. Tully had to help her because she was struggling so much. And she definitely didn't want Link's help at the time.

But she saw Ilia, so upset, and she knew it was her job to make sure that she was okay. So she braced herself and stepped into the water. Her foot slipped into the clear spring without a sound. Stepping lightly, she made her way over to Ilia. When she got there, she called her name and rested a slender hand on the Ordonian's shoulder.

Ilia had heard her coming, so she was not surprised. She continued to gaze at the dancing fairies around her.

"I don't know where they came from. One day I didn't think they existed, and the next, here they are. There light dimmed though. A few days ago."

Thea remained silent.

"They can heal. Just like the water. I used to wash Epona here. Link would push her too hard though. But even so, she preferred him over me."

Thea looked sympathetically at the girl, who was a year older than she. "You know, when I was attacked, I had to leave behind things I loved. I lost a horse too."

Ilia looked over to the noble girl who was moving to stand in front of her. "Her name was Aella."

Ilia smiled. "The wind." She translated.

"Yes." Thea reminisced, staring off into the flowing water tumbling off of the cliff. "She was one of my best friends. I wasn't as free as you are here. Being a noble, I had a lot of duties to attend to. Things I had to do that kept me from living the life I wanted to live. My mother, before she passed away, went all the way across the country to get her, just so I could have a little more freedom. She died later on. But things got complicated. I didn't have time to run back to the stables to get her. Link had to take me out of the city. We were being chased by the Hunter and his minions. During the fight, we got separated with Epona. So once again, it was all my fault."

Ilia searched Thea's pale gray eyes, a most unusual color in the Ordona Province.

Thea went on. "But the thing to understand about all of this, is to keep your friends as close as you can. They'll make mistakes. Accidents will happen. But they could be taken away just as quickly. So you have to cherish them. You're lucky to have such a good friend like Link."

She looked down in dismay. "I never had any close friends who weren't horses or maids."

Thea felt a hand on her shoulder now.

"You know, we have something in common. Even though we're from different worlds, I lost a mother too."

Reaching up to hold the hand on her shoulder, Thea frowned sympathetically at Ilia, who was glancing away down towards the water.

"So, I'll be your friend." The blond declared.

Thea blinked.

"Yes. Because, as you said, friends are a thing to cherish. So I need as many friends as I can get!"

They walked back together and Ilia went off to go speak with Link. Thea smiled after the girl as she skipped away, and decided to sit down in the grass and enjoy the afternoon sun, the chirping birds, the fluttering butterflies and the babbling stream.

She was there for a half and hour or so when she noticed Link walking up to her. She sat up from her sun bathing to watch him.

They still amazed her.

His eyes.

They were the color of an ocean she'd never seen, or the sapphires that adorned her head pieces at the balls she reluctantly attended. They were expressive; she could always tell what he was thinking even though he never said a word. They sat under thick brows while his dirty blond hair swept to the right.

Once he got there, she knew that he was there to check in with her. But before she could say a thing, a green light whizzed by and swirled around her head.

"Oh! T-Thea! W-we were so worried!

" Tully kept circling her, checking for injuries when Thea met Link's eyes with curiosity.

_He was worried about me... _

And one of his arms reach up to knead the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.

Thea giggled.

She turned her attention to Tully, who stopped to chide her.

"D-Don't you dare g-go off on y-your o-own like that a-again!" She stuttered, as usual.

Thea laughed and replied, "Alright Tully. I'm sorry I worried you!"

The noble looked up to the Hero. "Did you fix things with Ilia?" She asked.

Link nodded.

"Good." She hopped up to her feet. "I've done some thinking. Why don't we go to your house?"

Her suspicions were confirmed. The tree house she'd seen earlier was indeed Link's house. She was curious to know what his home looked like on the inside. You could tell who a person was by their house sometimes.

He climbed up the ladder first, and then her, and after stepping on the small platform, opened the door.

Inside, she saw thick tree branches crawling on the yellowing walls. It was very spacious. Shelves and cabinets held buckets, a lantern, a ladle, a pitch fork, plates and silverware. There was a table against the wall with two chairs and a stool underneath it, with a bottle and, a plant and a blue checkered cloth as decoration. There was a hole in the wall, and in it was a fire under a pot hanging on a chain, much like in Uli and Rusl's house. Above it were two knives and two spoons. There were clothes draped over a string that hung across the room and through a window. An opening in the ceiling filtered in light, and on the floor were several mismatched carpets. Another tiny room lead to a cellar. On the wall was a ladder that lead to a platform with another ladder that lead to another platform. On the walls in these places were lost of shelves holding clothes, barrels, boxes, and decorations. All over the whole house were paintings of the Ordon goats with Fado, Link on Epona, and a few of Talo, Malo and Beth.

Link closed the door behind her and while he tended to whatever he was cooking in the pot, Thea noticed something.

Books.

Practically everywhere.

She reached over to the shelves out of curiosity and took one.

It was titled, _the Legend of the Hero of Time. _

She flipped through the pages. She'd heard that this tale was a myth. Her tutors used to scoff at the tale of the hero clad in green.

"What nonsense! It was the King who saved us those centuries ago! He had seen the impending doom and stopped the King of Thieves with our armies! Get your head out of the clouds you silly child!"

Thea had not known what to think about the myth or what she wanted to believe in, so she forgot about it. But now that she had been thrown into this new adventure; now that she knew the Triforce was really real, that Link was the Hero Chosen by the Gods, that fairies existed – well, it wasn't hard to believe that there was a Hero of Time now either.

She looked around again, at all of the books, and stated out loud,

"So you like to read?"

Link turned towards Thea, who was still staring at all of the book lined shelves, and smiled. She caught the smile before he turned to finish tending to the meal in the pot. She was happy that she'd learned something about him. Thea herself wasn't much of a reader. Maybe it was because all she had to read were history books.

They both sat down at the table against the wall, Tully hovering close-by Link. She'd taken a liking to him, Thea noticed. What was it with him and fairies?

Anyways, shaking her head to clear her mind, she began, "So now that we've recharged, where should we start?"

Had it merely been a day ago she would have turned around and ran the other way. But she'd already understood what she had to do and why. She had a duty to her people, as she always had, to keep them safe from harm. If she had to run across the whole kingdom then so be it.

"So, do we even no where the fairy shards are?" She asked.

Tully started, "I d-do!" She stopped to think.

"There are four. The closest one nearby is in the temple of the great tree.."

Thea could tell immediately that Link knew where that was by the light of recognition in his eyes.

"When do we go?" Thea asked.

"How about tomorrow? It's already after noon, and figuring our way through the temple may take a while."

Thea wondered what exactly "figuring our way through the temple" meant, but left it there. She didn't want to make herself anxious.

For the rest of the day, they rested in the shade of Link's house. Link and Thea ate some meat and a salad while Tully prattled on about her home and the fairies. Soon, the sun had set over the horizon and the sky was darkening. Tully decided to leave for a while. She said something about speaking with the fairies at the spring. That left Link and Thea alone.

Looking around, Thea couldn't help but think out loud; "Wow. It must be great to live on your own like this." She clamped her mouth shut, embarrassed for speaking her thoughts but Link just contemplated what she said, examining the spaces of his home.

She assumed it would be awkward to not say anything else on the matter so continued to speak.

"Well, it seems great to me anyways..."

Link turned his head, inquisitive blue eyes now on her.

Gulping, she went on.

"It's just that.." She forgot about her awkwardness as she thought. "I guess you and I come from different worlds. You're so free here. You have so many choices. You could do anything you want."

She looked down, a frown pulling on her lips.

Link continued to stare at her, but she didn't catch the bewilderment in his eyes at her confession.

"I don't have that luxury. I already have a fate thrust upon me that I can't escape. I have a duty to the people. And I know that I have no choice, that I have to protect them...but..."

She paused.

"I just wish I could do what I wanted. So I could be truly happy..."

Another pause.

She suddenly reached and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Well, would you listen to me? How selfish, right?" She laughed nervously.

She stopped to see that Link had that same, strange look. The same one he gave her at the lake. She could read all of Link's emotions. His eyes were like an open book. But this look; it was the only one she couldn't read. And it made her blush madly, every single time.

But she immediately forgot about her kicking heart when she smelled something salty.

"Link." She asked, caution ringing in her voice. "Do you...smell that?"

As if all of the relaxation and carefree cells in his body just died, he bolted.

Now in hero mode, his blue eyes now dangerously dark, he ripped open the door and slid down the ladder. He looked into the sky, but Thea was still making her way down to him, her heart racing for a completely different reason now. When she got to his side, she followed his line of sight.

_Oh no._

The sky was completely dark now, so you could see it. The tips of orange tongues licking the trees. And a plume of deadly black smoke rising like a bad omen.

The town was on fire.

Link and Thea, at the same time, sprinted off towards the town.

Once they got there, it was pure chaos.

All of the townspeople were running, trying to gather their children. Bo and Ilia caught sight of them and the mayor shouted over the roar of the flames, "Monsters! They've come again!"

Link nodded and pushed them towards the exit while Thea shouted,"Alright! Go on! We'll get everybody out!"

Thea coughed when a good amount of the dreaded fumes snaked it's way into her throat. Choking, she grasped her throat, her gray eyes watering. Link grabbed her shoulder in concern but she shook her head. "Get the people out!" She choked.

He hesitated.

"Now! Go on!" She ordered, and he left her to help them.

Thea took in the sights around her. Large, thick pillars of flame reached up to scorch the sky everywhere. They had latched onto every single house. All around her was a sea of flame as they burned through the surrounding forest. Orange was all she saw. And the heat beat against her body in waves, like those of the sea, threatening to drown her. Red embers floated through the air, like spores, to spread the fire as if it were a virus. Pile upon pile of smoke drifted through the air. And Bulblins tore down homes with their metal tools and chased after people with their metal weapons.

Running a hand through her now free hair, she breathed quickly and shallowly.

_Why? _

_Why attack such a perfect place like this?_

_With such kind people? _

And the answer came to her head just as she asked those questions.

_Because of you. They're after you._

Yes.

The Hunter wished to hunt her, hence his name, to gain her Triforce of Power and rule the world.

And he was willing to tear down an innocent town in the process?

Uproot innocent lives?

Thea began to understand the magnitude of the situation.

This was no game.

The Hunter would stop at nothing to catch her, even kill those not involved.

This was all her fault.

Then she heard a scream.

She whipped her head around so fast it made her dizzy. When her eyes focused, she saw Uli and Rusl, holding each other as Uli sobbed. Her house was in flames, just like the others.

"Lucy!" She wailed.

_Lucy._

What had she done to these people?

Lucy was still in that burning building.

She realized; that it was her duty to protect these people. Because she brought this on them. She brought this destruction to their lives.

Soon, her feet were carrying her over to their house. She made her way over to them.

She felt gloved fingers wrap around her upper arm, encircling it, holding her back. She turned to see Link. His eyes were dark, under thick, arched eyebrows.

"I have to!" She shouted, the fierce, constant thundering of the flames making it hard to hear.

Link's grip on her tightened. He shook his head.

"It's my duty! I have to!" She wrenched her arm free. He reached out to grab a hold of her again but she was too quick.

She sprinted past Uli and Rusl and dove into the flaming house.

Here, the intensity of everything increased tenfold. The roar of the fire was much louder. The thickness of the smoke made it almost impossible to see or breath. The brightness of the flames almost blinded her.

But she heard it. The wailing of the baby girl. So she followed it.

The once warm, inviting house was a burning hazard zone.

As she moved, holding an arm up to her nose and mouth, she heard a deadly cracking sound above her. She looked up, and the flames had eaten a piece of thick wood.

With one last crack, it fell like a ten ton weight down on her.

She dove out of the way just in time, and landed hard on the wood floor, scuffing her elbows, hands, and knees.

She still had enough energy. So she got up and continued to search.

She found the crib with Lucy in it. But they were surrounded by a wall of flame.

Thea looked on, at a loss of what to do.

Pure hopelessness.

There was no way she was going to get out without catching on fire.

But she had to.

Duty _always_ calls for sacrifice.

That's what she'd always been taught.

So, squeezing her eyes shut, she reached her hand through the wall of flames...

And didn't feel a thing.

Her eyes flew open.

To her amazement, the flames were touching her skin but were not burning her. Like by some divine command she could not be scorched by them. She tested her luck and stepped through the fire. Not even her clothes burned. Her heart thundered in her chest. She reached into the crib and took Lucy into her arms. She hoped with all her might that her plan would work.

It was dangerous.

Crazy.

But these were intense circumstances.

She, with the baby, stepped through the flames, and darted out of the house.

When her feet landed on the hot, dried grass, she took a look down at the infant to find that she was also saved from the touch of the deadly flames. She sighed in relief.

Rusl and Uli noticed, and scrambled over to her. Thea transferred the baby over to Uli's arms and the mother sobbed and sobbed.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" She repeated over and over again.

Thea turned to Rusl.

"What can I do to help?"

Rusl shouted, "Go! Go to the forest temple! I know you and Link are looking for the fairy shard! It's in there go!"

Thea stayed rooted to her spot. "I can't just leave you!"

Rusl shook his head and smiled. "We'll be fine! We can manage! Now _Go!" _

So Thea ran. She found Link, hard at work dispatching the Bublins. He caught sight of her, immediately forgot about the enemies and grabbed her hand.

Then, they were on another wild goose chase.

She was pulled past Ordon Spring and to the long, wooden bridge that she'd seen earlier that day. The ropes on the sides were on fire, and she saw ahead that the rest of the forest shared the same fate. She could hear the squawking of birds as they desperately tried to escape from the flames. They ran across the bridge.

But the wood underneath her disappeared and she was falling.

The next second, she and Link were hanging onto the wood. Thea looked back to see that a pair of those good for nothing bulblins had cut the rope of the bridge. She gazed down the gorge, a never ending pit of darkness, and her head was swimming. She and Link looked up to the other side of the bridge to find that two more were about to cut the other side of the line.

Now using the bridge as a ladder, Link climbed with great speed and just before they cut the rope, swung out his sword and they were gone. He reached a hand to help Thea up and once she was back on sweet solid ground, they were running yet again.

They continued on through a rock pass, with more high stone walls, and into a clearing dotted with burning flowers and giant trees all around, each topped with red and orange. They climbed up a small hill and then down into another clearing before coming to yet another fairy spring. But she was dragged to the left and through a natural rock tunnel.

Veering right, then going straight through a flame licked wooden gate, he pulled her into a cave and she was plunged into darkness.

What happened in the tunnel she couldn't tell.

It was too dark.

She could feel the hard grip of Link's hand around hers. She could hear his grunts, and their quick footsteps. She could hear the swishing of his purple handled sword as it sliced through whatever was making those strange noises. She was being pulled to an unknown destination.

But she trusted Link. She knew he was aware of where they were going.

Finally, light.

There was a giant, walled off area, filled with monstrous, tall trees. Everything was laced with hues of red, orange, and yellow. Smoke continued to drift through the air, and both were coughing.

Link and Thea ran onto a wooden dock, and then, letting go of her hand, he jumped first into a deep depression in the earth; a sea of flame. He looked back up to her.

Aside from water, Thea was also not a fan of jumping and falling.

She hesitated, but the look in his eyes, so trustworthy and sure, changed that, and she jumped.

He caught her and set her back down just as quickly, and they were off again.

Then, it was pure confusion.

They ran blindly through the sea of flames. They rose up to block their path, so they'd have to turn. The smoke infiltrated their nostrils, sending the salty, strong smell of death into their lungs.

Soon, they had climbed up a hill and went through another burning gate.

There was darkness again, but only for a short time. And they were in another expanse of flame. Traveling over tiled ground, they entered what looked to be a path, suspended over a gorge, made from a hollowed out tree branch of a size she never though imaginable. They finally made it up to the entrance of what she assumed was the Forest Temple.

Stopping to catch her breath with Link; her lungs were once again shriveled up like raisins and her legs were about to snap in half, she looked up.

And the giant tree, the center of the forest, the temple, was also aflame.

* * *

**End Note:**

**Wow. That was really hard to write! Now, I have to figure out how in the world I'm going to describe them figuring out temple puzzles! And they won't be the same as in the game! **

**Alright! So now, some replies to reviews!**

**BlameYourFate: Well thanks! I'm glad my story has a good place among the Legend of Zelda fanfiction stories out there! I really appreciate your review, it means a lot! **

**Amanda is a Panda8: Thanks! I'm really glad it's the best story you've ever read!**

**I have artwork of Thea on my Deviantart account. It's difficult to find so I'll give you the directions. ****Search in the "search art" bar, TheaSong956 _with_ the capitals. A picture will come up, but it isn't the one I want you to see. Click on it, then click on my username. TheaSong956. Different pictures (they're identical) will come up in my gallery and you can click on those. That's the real artwork I did for Dragonflies! Hope you're not confused! I know I sent a lot of my followers a notification of this but not the link or the directions! Yikes! So I hope they make their way back to this chapter and find the directions!**

**Until next time!**


	10. The First Shard

**Author's Note:**

**Whew! That was a tough chapter! Usually I take a pencil and paper and go through the game to help me describe certain places. But a whole temple? While creating new puzzles and a new boss? It was fun, but It was tiring! Anyways, it was worth it, and I am happy to announce the newest chapter for the week! Please note that this chapter may slightly confuse you, so I'd encourage you to pull up an image of the Forest Temple from Twilight Princess (Wii Version!) to help you see where Link, Thea, and Tully are during the chapter. **

**Also, I did a quick sketch of Thea on DeviantArt and I wrote the directions on chapter 9's end notes. **

**Oh, and I know I never write this, but I have to. So, **

**I do not own the Legend of Zelda, I only own my original characters and plot.**

**Alright, I'll let you read the newest chapter! Here it is!**

* * *

The First Shard

* * *

The room they stumbled into was completely dark. But after their eyes adjusted, they could see the glow of orange beyond. Stepping in a puddle along the way, they walked with caution over to the light.

They came into a large room, somewhat like a hall, with giant trees as walls with branches that curved like a rounded ceiling. If there was a ceiling though, she couldn't see for it was made of thick black smoke. She was beginning to get used to the salty smell of the smoke as it entered her lungs.

She tried not to choke as her eyes watered.

Four totem poles, two on each side depicting some sort of animal were pillars of fire. Huge mushroom platforms were like plates holding flames. There was a wooden structure ahead that may have once been a ladder, but was crumbling as the fire at through it. It was as tall as a two story house, and clearly they were unable to climb it unless they wanted to be burned.

But they wouldn't be burned.

With her new ability, she could make sure Link was safe from the deadly touch of the flames.

She turned to Link. "Link."

He turned to her. Before, he was searching for ways to get over the obstacle.

"When I was trying to save Lucy, I found out that I can do something." She reached a hand into the fire, feeling the intense heat but not the stinging of the burn.

Link was quick to snatch her hand away from the fire but gasped when he saw that there was no burn to be found.

He met her eyes and she explained, "I don't know where it came from, but we can use it to our advantage."

Grasping his hand, she and Link climbed up the ladder together. Once they were on their feet again, he nodded and they faced a wooden gate over a round, stone door marked with a strange symbol. Link rolled it to the side and they went through.

Thea laughed inwardly at his great ability to roll with the punches.

The door closed behind them, by some strange force, and they stepped onto a platform already completely on fire. Thea heard Link grunt as he was burned and she grabbed his hand again, channeling her new-found power to protect him.

She wouldn't let that hand go for the duration of their stay in this gods-forsaken temple.

A set of stairs lead down into the room. Like any other room in this temple as Thea suspected, the walls were made of trees, and the ceiling of smoke. They walked down and went up a short, fifteen step flight of stairs that put them on another platform. To each side, east and west, was a wooden pole that had a rope tied to it, for a person to climb over a short gap to get to another stone door. To the north was a flaming, ornate yet simple gate over another door, large stairs acting as a bridge over a would be gap.

Seeing that going north was easier, Thea lead the way towards the north door. She went up the stairs and she pushed open the door.

This place was not touched by the fire. As it was night, it was completely pitch black and their eyes were trying to adjust. She felt a strong wind blow by from the right, tangling her ebony curls.

She blindly walked forward but heard a tiny vice shriek, "WAIT!"

She stopped, her heart in her throat and Tully's dim, green light revealed a gorge. At the other side was a tree branch carved as a platform.

"W-we ultimately w-want to g-get t-to the other s-side." The little fairy said.

Thea deducted that, "We might be able to find a way across if we visited the other rooms."

So they back tracked and found themselves at the center of the wooden platform again.

Looking at each door, both identical but most likely leading to different rooms, Thea randomly picked the west door.

"But how do we get across?" She muttered.

Below them, in the gaps, was a sea of flame that could severely injure Link. And the rope that could help them across was also burning.

"W-we don't h-have much t-time before b-both ropes and th-this platform b-burm through. Th-then we'll b-be stuck!" Tully warned.

So Thea thought quickly. The rope was too high up for even Link, the taller of the two, to grasp.

She saw an empty metal chest, closed it, and began pushing. When she looked up to see her stationary friends, she grunted, "Come on, Link! Help me out!"

With their combined strength they pushed it to the edge of the platform.

"Use that to help you grab the rope." She ordered.

Seeing as the rope was burning, she held onto his hand to keep him safe, and he grasped their way to the other side with one hand, hanging over the gap. She was next, and after she was on, all of their hands were grabbing the rope. She sighed with relief when it was strong enough to hold them both. Still holding hands, they shimmied across and jumped off to a platform not yet touched by the flame and rolled open the door.

Complete darkness again. They were in a cave, and they followed the light from the roaring fire to enter the large room. They were on the ground, standing on inflammable soil, so the fire avoided them. But the wood fence surrounding them was a short wall of flame. They spotted a burning set of stairs and Thea grabbed Link's hand again to protect him. She saw that below them was water, completely covering the floor. Every thing else, as always, was consumed with orange.

They hopped over two platforms and onto a huge tree stump. The door ahead was locked, two rusting chains making a dreadful "X" and at the center was a lock.

"So where is the key..." Thea thought out loud.

To their left was a door on a wooden stand that was on a taller tree stump beyond a gap over the water. The wood that acted as places to jump between the stumps were on fire. So Thea and Link ran and jumped together, though in her heart she slightly reluctant, afraid of falling.

But their destination was taller than their starting point, and instead of landing on their feet, they had to catch themselves with their arms and elbows, legs dangling. Still holding his hand, Thea first hoisted herself up and then pulled him up. They climbed the set of stairs and opened the heavy door.

This room was small and round. They looked to the right and found that there was another gap with a rope to cross it. Thankfully, this room wasn't burning and they could see due to some lanterns handing on the walls.

Since it was faster, Link jumped down. Thea hesitantly shuffled towards the edge and looked down at him. The jump was much longer and steeper than before.

"Really?" She complained.

Link glared at her and crossed his arms, well aware of her nervousness towards heights but not leaving room for nonsense.

So, closing her eyes, she stepped off of the platform and felt her stomach fly up to her throat.

She imagined she'd fall forever when, sure enough, Link's waiting arms caught her and set her feet safely on the ground.

Letting out the breath she had been holding, they walked to the center of the room, where a totem pole stood. Though the light was dim, she could make out a carved monkey's face on it. It was rather creepy. On the ground around them were groups of yellow weeds and piles of dead leaves.

They both parted ways to search the room, looking for the key that would unlock the door in the room before.

As she searched, she heard a strange clicking sound and looked up.

A giant spider, hanging from a single strand of webbing, hovered right in front of her, four glowing green eyes staring at her. It's abdomen was that of a mutated skull, grinning back at her.

Thea gasped and stepped back. It's pincers snapped in anticipation as it lowered itself on the ground and began to close the distance between them.

But she was pushed out of the way and fell to the ground before the awful thing could strike her.

Dazed for a second she blinked and looked up as Link grabbed his metal Hylian shield and then reached behind him with his right hand to grasp the purple handle of his great sword. He then immediately swung down.

It was cut in two down the middle, and imploded into a black fog. She barely saw him do it he was so fast.

She blinked as he sheathed his sword and then strapped his shield over it on his back with ease. She gulped when he came up to her and offered her his hand. Taking it, she said, "I'm fine." As she knew what he was thinking. "Thank you."

They climbed up a natural set of stairs and shimmied along the rope, this time using a rock to reach it, to get back to the room they were in before, still on fire.

She held his hand again, since they were walking through flames. Tully came out of Link's pocket and pointed out, "There's s-some kind of l-locked gate over th-there."

Thea looked to the right. The bridge that had once allowed someone to cross was broken, and the ropes that once suspended it had burned through. They all paused to think, and Thea searched for a way over.

There!

She dragged Link back to the entrance of the room, where the burning fence had crumbled away, and pointed to the flaming wooden suspended platforms along the wall.

"But it's too far away!" Thea groaned. They could never jump to it. It was too far and too high up.

Tully shook. "N-not to w-worry!" She circled around them, too fast to even see, and soon the Hylians' feet were off the ground.

"T-Tully!" Thea gasped.

"W-When I visited the f-fairies at th-that spring, they lent m-me a t-tiny bit of their c-combined power. W-we are all still weak, but I m-managed to get enough t-to save f-for a rainy day." She explained.

She must have lost what power she had helped Thea at lake Hylia. Thea couldn't help but feel guilty.

Her magic lifted them up and dropped them safely on the wood, where they jumped over a gap and landed safely.

All around them were tall posts with strange contraptions on them, four in all. There was a strange marking on the ground under their feet. Something that looked like this, "Z" It was nothing she'd ever seen.

"Th-This temple has changed, b-but this remains."

Link knew what to do.

He pulled something out of his pocket. Thea saw that it was...a boomerang? With white painted wood with ridges to make it look as if there it had wings and metal decorations with two green jewels on either side. A tiny whirlwind circled around it as he aimed, gathering tiny green leaves with it. He threw it and she gasped as a violent twister flew with it to turn the paddles on the fans in the same order, curiously, as the strange symbol below them directed. Link reached a gloved hand out and caught the boomerang, ending the tornado. After securing it inside his pocket, a loud creaking turned their attention and they saw a set of flaming wooden doors slide apart to reveal a treasure chest.

Thea ran over to it, leaving Link and Tully.

Behind her, she though she heard the young fairy murmer, "Thank you, dear sister."

She pushed open the huge chest and found a single key at the bottom. She reached behind her, took off her leather rucksack and dropped the key inside.

Smiling at Link and Tully, she announced, "Let's go open that door."

After traveling all the way around the room again, avoiding the orange tongues that jumped out at them, they finally made it to the door.

Thea inserted the key and turned it. The lock gave way with a deafening "CLOCK" and the chains relented and fell. Rolling the door open, debris falling on their heads, they found themselves in the pitch black, windy room again, only this time they were to the left of the room.

Thea thought not to walk ahead, aware that there was a huge, never ending pit and stuck close to the door where she was sure she would not fall.

Tully flew across the gorge and shouted, "We want t-to get here!"

But there was no way across...

"It think I see something! On the ground!" Thea exclaimed.

Tully flew back over to illuminate the area. Link was standing just beside it. A rusty old square in the ground with an ornate design on it.

She saw the light of recognition in Link's blue eyes and he stepped on it. They heard a loud "BANG" reverberate across the room and Tully flew over to it to help them see what was going on. They saw the tree trunk pathways, both the one directly ahead of them and the one they's seen to the right of the room. A metal bridge was building a pathway between the two, bot not across to the other side.

Thea groaned "That's no help to us at all!"

Tully glided back to them. "We m-may find a-a way across i-if we go b-back."

So they began to trek back to the room with the three doors.

As they went, Thea couldn't help but think of the deep guilt she felt in her heart about bringing such pain to the people of Ordon. She knew it was all her fault. Why else would the Hunter send his minions to their location? They were after her. And they would have torn apart every small village that was hiding them, killed every person that might have known her, and left them all to rot.

What did Link think of that?

She managed, just barely, to shove that particular thought to the back of her mind.

They chose the only other door they hadn't taken. But the platform had collapsed, along with the ropes, their only ways to get across. They jumped down into the sea of flame and then came to stand at the base of the tree stump that held up the door they wished to enter. It was as tall as a house, and there were no footholds to help them climb.

Thea slouched, hopeless. How could they get up there?

But she felt an arm encircle around her waist and suddenly she was launched into the air. Link had used his gauntlets to grab a hold of some burned vine above, the flames finished with chewing through them. They slammed into the wall and the two grunted when their heads knocked together.

"Ow." Was all the noble muttered as she rubbed her head.

They were lowered down by the chains of the clawshot and then went through the door.

Like most other rooms, this one was engulfed in heat. They climbed up wooden stairs, first up, then left, then right over a flat area, across a gap, and through the door directly ahead. Thea saw, before she went into the next room, another door to the right, but ignored it.

This room was dark. Here, whatever had set this place aflame forgot this room as well. A pond sat under a tiled bridge. Spores of a delicate green floated like plankton in a sea.

To get there, you had to jump. This drop was even taller. Link went first and waited, but she shook her head. He arched an eyebrow curiously as she turned around. His eyes followed her descend the curving set of stairs she found and then she jogged back to his side. She nodded and they faced the bridge.

There were croaks and Thea saw beady golden eyes stare at her from under the tiles. She gasped, surprised. Link offered her his arm and lead her across, avoiding the curios creatures hiding under the tiles.

She waited as he hoisted himself up the massive wooden stairs and then came back with a key.

He handed it to her and she frowned. "We have no need for a key." She pointed out.

Tully added, "M-Maybe the d-door in the other r-room?"

"So many keys..." The noble complained. "Just why in the world is this temple just like a maze?" She demanded.

"The light spirits, l-long ago, ordered the people to build elaborate temples. They were never told why. B-Based on who the people were reflected on what k-kind of temple it was. The p-people who built this place lived and thrived in these forests, and they were masters at m-making wind contraptions. Th-They were never told what they were making p-puzzles and traps to hide. Just that it was some dark p-power that needed to be locked away."

Link nodded.

"But there w-were other things h-hidden in these temples. Including the fairy shards; what we're looking for. The t-temples were enchanted to change themselves wh-whenever one item hidden there needs to be protected more than the others. But it looks like s-someone didn't think that was enough and c-came through here to destroy it." She finished.

After processing those words, Thea smiled. "But we won't let them stop us."

They were greeted by the bright, loud, unpleasant, fire that was eating away almost everything in the previous room. To their left was more dead vines and Link used his gauntlets to help them cross over. As Tully guessed, the door she'd seen earlier door was indeed locked.

After they went through, this room was also not touched by the fires. And to their amazement, clear of enemies. They just waltzed right on through, found the switch, and returned to the main room.

Before returning, Thea thought out loud, "I thought this temple was supposed to protect the fairy shards!" confused that they faced no challenges when finding the second switch.

"There m-must be something dangerous up ahead." Tully warned.

Link managed to find more vines to get them through the north door of the main room and into the windy room. They saw that there was a new bridge to get them across. They traveled the other bridge to get to the door they wanted to go through, their footsteps clanging on the metal.

Here there was fire. A wooden platform, with a fan in the center, stood. The doors to the east and west were both locked. The north door wasn't locked, but the platform, over another endless pit, was sideways. If it wasn't it would act as a bridge.

"Hurry." Tully yelled. "Or the bridge will burn!"

Link pulled out his boomerang again and then, the whirlwind rotated the fan and with complaining creeks, the bridge shifted and allowed them to go through the north door.

This room, the last, was a maze of whirlwinds, grappling hooks, and platforms. Here, Link did most of the work. They managed to get to the very last door, more ornate and larger that the others, and with the boss key they'd found along the way, opened the door which lead them into darkness.

They stepped in, and they heard the deafening "CLUNK" of the door behind them closing. After adjusting her eyes, Thea saw that they were in a huge room. She could see that there was a strip of land that they could travel across first. There were several pots here and there, in faded blues and reds, yellows, and whites. After that was dark water. In the background she could see the shape of a large tree in center of the room, and could hear the small grumbling of waterfalls falling down the tree walls. There were gates for the water to go through to some unknown destination; perhaps to the other places in the temple with water. By the whispering above them, she could tell there was no ceiling. Just tree foliage.

They stepped forward. There were no other doors in this room. She saw that Link had become tense, his shoulder muscles now rigid and the grip on his sword now tightened. She knew that when he was on edge that she should be as well. Danger was coming, as Tully had inferred.

She just had no idea what it was that was coming.

Quiet.

There was this electricity running through the air, just like before a storm. It made the hairs on her neck stand on end and her muscles constrict in anticipation. She didn't know when this danger was going to strike or from where, and that made it worse.

Then, there was this deep reverberating sound.

This...buzzing?

And out of the foliage came this giant bug. It's humongous wings fluttered and made this deep grumbling sound that suited it's size. It's shell was black, as were it's empty, beady eyes that rolled around in odd directions. She noticed that it was a firefly. It's butt was the only thing colored; a glowing red.

"It-it's the Skullampy!" Tully shrieked.

Said monster let out a ear ripping roar that send a sound wave pounding them to the ground. Letting out a pained grunt, Thea hit the ground hard. Link jumped right back up though, sword in hand and eyes dark once again. She stumbled to her feet and backed into the door they'd gone through, staring ahead as her friends took on the great insect. From her position, she watched.

Link tried everything. The boss had the ability to shoot fire out of it's lower abdomen in the form of fireballs and, occasionally, in a burst of fire that covered the whole area of the room. To avoid that attack, they had to duck under the burst of heat. He pulled out every tool or weapon he had hidden in his pockets. The clawshots, the boomerangs, some weird spinning contraption, a ball and chain, you name it. But the Skullampy's armored shell deflected any attack thrown at it. And to hit the only vulnerable place on it's body was just as impossible. The armor protected it from the outside, but not under it. But to get under the bug you had to get close to it. And to get close meant it that it could torch you. And it seemed that Link didn't want to take that risk.

Since she couldn't be burned, Thea realized, she was the only one that could get close to it. She had a feeling Link would disagree if she asked, so she made the decision on her own. If she didn't help Link, he could get hurt. And if they didn't defeat this monster how were they to complete the fairy weapon and ultimately stop the Hunter?

It was her duty to protect Hyrule was it not? Since birth.

She sneaked up behind Link and shot a hand out, grasping the purple hand of the great sword, and rolled away. She heard a strangled gasp from a surprised Link but she ignored it as she found a rock, ran to it, and jumped over the water, praying to the gods that her plan worked.

She was hovering over the water, in slow motion.

The bug had a choice. Attack her, or move in on an unprotected Link. She was the one with his sword.

If the bug chose Link...she shoved the though in the back of her mind.

She waited.

She found that that second was the longest in her life. It felt like an hour had passed.

Then, praise the gods she was grabbed by black, hairy insect legs and lifted high into the air, feeling her stomach lurching. Thankfully she was facing the lower abdomen of the bug, glowing an angry red.

The sword.

Before she could continue she had to take just a millisecond to think about that sword.

It was too heavy for her. She could lift it, but it was unbalanced, like it could tip to one side or the other and miss when swung by her. She'd seen Link wield it and she expected it to be as light as air. It always danced in his hands in weaving circles and arcs.

Some dormant power radiated from it. But also something intelligent. Something ancient. Something of prophecy. And she knew it was the sword of evil's bane.

And it was not for her hands.

She swung.

Unpracticed as she was, (never in her life had she used a sword, even if she had secretly wished to learn) she struck the desired target and the thing screeched in pain. She felt deep remorse and anger in her heart for hurting it, but ignored it as she remembered that this beast was meant to kill her and ultimately hurt her people. It set itself on fire in an attempt to hurt her. But she was immune to the heat of the flame, and continued to swing and swing, creating black marks in the red flesh. The light flickered.

Thea heard Tully's terrified voice call out to her, for once without stuttering, "Thea! You must jump!"

_Jump? _Oh why did she have to jump? They were up so high! The fear made her freeze, even her breath.

"THEA! JUMP!" Tully shrieked.

Thea gathered her guts, and, sword in hand, let go.

And plummeted into the water.

It was cold.

And green.

And dark.

She heard a muffled crash.

She saw Link's shadowy figure swim towards her, grab her arms and pull her up over the water's surface.

They watched as the Skullampy's light flickered out and as it's wings faltered, the buzzing stopping and starting like some ancient machine. And finally, the wings died, fell off, and the bug stopped in midair.

They watched.

The bug began to crystallize into what looked like diamonds. It lost it's color, and gradually became a jewel statue of what it was. Once it was done, it dropped like a ten ton weight down into the water, creating a giant wave that plowed right into them. They managed to stay on their feet, and watched as a great light emitted from a spot in the water. And something floated up and hovered over the water.

It was something white. Just a shape, a piece of something that would be identifiable once the puzzle was complete. Link took it, and it shrunk so he could fit it in his pocket.

And right then and there, they all collapsed onto the ground. Link, Thea, and Tully, and fell into a deep sleep.

The sun had just barely risen over the mountains, sending iridescent pinks, purples, oranges and yellows over the land. Outside, the fires died, and the Ordonian people knew that Link and Thea had completed the temple. They began to pick up their half destroyed village and waited for the young heroes to return.

* * *

**End Note:**

**There will be a few words I hope to never write again: platform, fire, flame, tree stump, and rope. Did you know that some of those words have very few synonyms? I had to use them over and over again in this chapter! **

**Skullampy's name is derived from the scientific name of the firefly, ****Lampyridae, and part of the name of a common enemy in the Legend of Zelda, Skulltulla. **

******Thea and Link have obtained the first shard, but on their way to find the next shard, what obstacles will they find standing in their way? Will we see some familiar faces?**

******Until next time!**


	11. Blockades

**Author's Note: **

**Well hello again! Welcome back! This chapter is a long, so sit back, relax and enjoy the story!**

* * *

She woke up. Something bright was shining in her face. Her eyelids fluttered open and she yawned, stretching out like a cat. She always found it funny, mornings. How one would wake up, completely unaware of the previous night's events, into a blissful ignorance.

But then it all comes flooding back like a tropical storm.

Bolting up, she took in her surroundings. She chuckled. She, Link and Tully had been so exhausted that they all collapsed after defeating that horrible creature.

She could no longer smell the pungent scent of smoke drifting lazily through the air. No, it smelled like clean, damp earth. Faded, silvery sunlight filtered through the pale leaves of the great tree and projected down to them, illuminating the room. The dust in the air sparkled like fairy dust all around them. Spores from the many plants floated through the air aimlessly. The water was as clear as glass, and the sun allowed her to see tiny fish playing under the surface, undisturbed.

Thea turned to her friends. Tully must have been in Link's pocket, for she was nowhere to be seen. The girl rested her eyes on the sleeping form of the young hero. He was so peaceful when he slept. He was usually a focused person, so his eyebrows were drawn together most of the time. But now, they were relaxed, giving him a much younger appearance. Seeing him like that made her smile.

Tully had noticed her awake and came shooting out of his pocket. "Good m-morning!" She chirped, but then paused. "Hmm. I-I guess i-it's good a-afernoon now.." She trailed off.

They were up late. Thea did not know exactly how long into the night they were awake, but it was enough so that their bodies slept in to compensate for the lost sleep.

The noise seemed to bring Link out of his deep sleep and he began to stir. His stormy blue eyes blinked open and he sat up, rubbing his neck and then his temples while wincing in pain.

"Late night?" Thea joked, which gained a grumble in reply.

"We should g-get g-going." Tully floated to a spot on the floor of the wide room and from her a circle of green light grew, sparkles rising up from it's area and fading as they flew higher. "Step on th-this. I-it will take us b-back to the entrance of th-the temple." And the two Hylians did as told. A surge of light blinded them, and then it faded, revealing that they were now standing in front of the door into the temple and facing the forest ahead. Teleportation was always strange for Thea. It left her disoriented for a moment.

Thea gasped.

The forest...It was as if nothing had changed. Like that beastly fire never tore it apart just the night before. The trees were all intact, the birds were chirping, animals played on the branches, insects buzzed by; the flames were gone.

"What...happened?" Thea breathed.

"It must h-have been the m-magic of the shard. Like w-we fairies, it can also heal. It h-healed this forest."

"Link!"

They turned to see that Rusl was jogging up to them. He panted, using his knees to support his leaning form, before standing up again and smiling. "Well, looks like you did it!" He slapped a hand on Link's shoulder, laughing. He stepped back.

"Do you need any help cleaning up the village?" Thea asked. Rusl shook his head.

"Not at all. The place is as good as new. I think it has something to do with your quest, but I think I'll get a headache trying to understand the adventures you kids go on. I guess I'm getting old."

He turned to Thea. "I wanted to say thank you. For saving our daughter. I don't know how you did it, but you did. Uli, Colin and I are forever in your debt." He tipped his head down.

Thea waved her hand. "There is no need for repayment! Consider it the actions of a very dear friend."

Rusl smiled. "If you say so. But no matter what, you are always welcome in our home, any time."

Thea smiled and gave a grateful, "Thank you."

Looking out to the horizon now, over the plumes of foliage that met the sapphire sky, the man said, "It is time for you to continue on. You've rested and resupplied, and got the first shard while you were at it. But you must head to Death Mountain now. That is where the fairies told me the next shard was."

After a heartfelt goodbye, Link and Thea began to walk. She didn't know where they were going but he did, and she followed his lead.

As they walked, Thea couldn't help but blurt out the one thing that had been eating away at her mind like moths since the day before.

"I'm sorry!" She cried.

Link halted and blinked at her, confused at the sudden outburst from the generally soft-spoken girl.

Now a little embarrassed, she murdered, "For bringing all this to your village. For hurting your people; your family. For destroying your home."

Her gray eyes were cast down in shame. "This was your home. And look what I did."

Tully popped out of her hiding place in Link's pocket and hovered around his head. "N-No! You mustn't th-think like th-that! Nobody w-was killed! A-And the sh-shard healed the f-forest!" She squeaked.

Thea shook her head. "The Hunter wants me, and I know he'll stop at nothing to get me. And he'll kill everyone in his path. I-I just know that wherever I go, people will die. Their blood will be on my hands. Even if the crystal heals them, they still would have endured the pain. And it's my duty to keep them safe. It always has been."

She looked up to him now and rain gray clashed with steel blue. "And I'm sorry you were burdened with protecting me. I don't want you to get hurt either. I want you to be happy."

Link stepped forward and put an hand on her shoulder. Tully floated by that hand and said, "W-when war breaks l-loose, there w-will always b-be casualties. N-no matter wh-what. B-But we c-can assure you that this is n-not your fault. It i-is the Hunter's fault. S-so if y-you feel that strongly a-about those casualties, then y-you must find y-your resolve and promise y-yourself that y-you will protect t-them. To do that, y-you must f-finish this quest b-by obtaining all of the fairy shards and stopping him! Can y-you do that?"

Thea gulped. What incredible insight this little fairy had.

The noble nodded. "I can."

She stepped away from Link's grasp and chuckled. "I'm sorry for that. Would you listen to me, I'm such a cry-baby!"

Link's gaze was that of a small frown. She could tell that he disagreed, and understood her worry and shame.

Wanting to free herself from his gaze, she quickly announced, "Alright then! So let's get going now shall we?"

After some walking through the forest, being mindful of puddles, rocks, and tree roots that jumped out at them here and there, they found themselves in a clearing. In it was a quaint makeshift house built of old wood and tattered cloth. She noticed another practice dummy on the side, just like Link's. All around were patches of white flowers, especially in front of the shack and around a man sitting on a tree stump behind a fire cooking a strange, golden liquid.

The man had a very matted head of hair that piled up on top. A messy...bird's nest of all things had been built there. He had small, kind eyes, a large nose, full lips, and the rounded ears of a human. His chest was bare save for a shabby shawl and a rope that held up a pot strapped around his shoulder. He wore white pants and polka dot sandals. He was scrawny, and had dark skin. You could tell he was at one with nature, because birds were not afraid to perch on his shoulder from time to time and squirrels to sit at his feet. As they approached, he took noticed.

"Oh hey, guy!" He looked over to Thea. "And girl!"

They walked up to him, as he seemed he wanted to chat. Though they were on a schedule, they gave in to politeness and stepped in front of the pot of gold goo.

"Your back! Haven't seen you around in ages! You must've been off on one of your crazy adventures!" He chuckled, and his brown eyes rested on the girl examining the pot of the sticky liquid.

"And brought a friend! Oh! You guys don't need lantern oil do you? It's at a good price."

At this, Thea pulled away from her distraction with a soft, "Hm?" And then, after registering what he said, replied, "No thanks. We're headed up to Death Mountain."

The man rubbed his chin. "Well you're right. You won't need a lantern with all of that fire and lava to light the way, won't you?"

Thea froze. "Fire? And Lava?" She gasped.

"Yep. It's were the Gorons live. Death Mountain." He confirmed.

_"Oh great. More fire."  
_

They said their goodbyes to the man and went on.

They went through a wooden gate and then through a long, wooded pass with a few large trees reaching their branches out to shade the travelers. But this opened up into a wide field.

To the north Thea saw Hyrule castle, magnificently rising above the ground. It was a different sight for her because she was used to seeing it up close and at a different angle. Now she was far away from it. Far away from home.

To the left was an angry looking mass of orange lava with red and black rock that she assumed was Death Mountain. Around it were sunset colored stone chimneys.

The field itself was of rolling green hills and small plateaus. Large trees gathered together here and there. To the east and north high stone walls rose. All around were the faded blue shapes of mountains behind thin clouds. A path helped guide their way and they started walking. As they moved, the landscape seemed to roll around them. Thea never knew such wide open spaces truly existed.

After three minutes of peaceful, uninterrupted walking, they stopped before a bridge, long trails of fencing flanking each side to keep travelers from falling into a shallow, clear pond below.

Here, the path broke in two. One to the left and one to the bridge ahead.

They were about to turn when they halted. Three figures were sprinting towards them. This day was full of surprising people, was it not?

When they got there, they all were surprised to see Link.

"Link! My boy, you are just in time!"

Link threw them all a questioning look. There were two men and a girl of Thea's age.

The first had wide blue eyes under thick, round glasses. His Hylian ears brushed his orange locks. He must have been a scholar, for he carried a book and wore checkered socks under short trousers with a blazer and nice purple coat over it. But she could tell he was an adventurer as well since he was using a dagger as a bookmark and had a utility belt tied around his waist.

The other man was also Hylian, and was obviously the oldest in the group. His gray hair and beard were cut and styled without a single strand of hair out of place. But he was clearly the wisest of the three. He generally wore loose fitting trousers of greens, whites, and browns, but the familiar shape of the Triforce rested on a belt that wrapped around his chest. This indicated that he had ties in Castle Town, or with the royal family.

The girl was human. She was unlike any girl Thea had ever encountered. Over a striped gray long sleeved shirt and tight, red pants with golden designs on it was armor. There were large, steam-punk-like gauntlets with pointed fingers. They reminded Thea of the gauntlet that the Hunter had threatened her with, the night she met Link. Under her breasts metal wrapped around her waist. And on her feet were metal boots. On a belt hung a thin rapier in it's red sheath. Thea looked up to the girl's face, wondering what sort of woman would dress such as this. She was not against a woman in armor. Not at all. It just had never occurred, and was severely frowned upon, in noble society. And Thea somehow immediately looked up to this brave girl of her age who dared to stand up and fight. She had dropping brown eyes with long lashes, a straight nose, thin lips, and thin, black hair tied in low pig-tails. The only difference between her hair and Thea's hair was that Thea's had loose curls, and it shined almost purple in the sun rather than gray.

"There's a blockade! Over by Kakariko Gorge bridge!" The old man continued.

"It's filled with bulblins and the rest of those disgusting things!" The scholarly one added. "Nobody is able to get through to Kakariko Village of the Gorons from here."

With this Thea stepped forward in concern, and the others took notice.

"Are you a friend of Link's? It doesn't look like we've met." The older man stated to the hero's companion. "I am Auru. The man to my right is Shad, and the girl to my left is named Ashei."

Curtseying out of habit, she replied, "My name is Althea Vinet." and then asked, "So we can't get to Death Mountain unless we find a way to get rid of the stronghold?"

There came an abrupt snort and all attention was directed to the warrior girl Ashei. She glared at Thea. "We don't need to find a way to get rid of it. We have a way. By force. It's what we do. We're the Resistance, and we protect Hyrule from pigs like that Hunter." She crossed her arms. "And I know who you are. You're the heir of the noble Vinet household aren't you? What are you doing all the way out here instead of protecting Hyrule by-"

Thea didn't think when she cut the armored girl off. "-Weeellll!...What do we do now?" She tried to ignore the confused and suspicious glance that Link gave her.

"We should head towards the Gorge and begin to take it." Auru proposed, but caught the worried glances on Link's face towards Thea, who did not notice.

"I see." He murmered. "Althea." He called her attention. "I fear that you are unequipped for battle, so I must urge you to stay here. One of us will also stay behind to watch you." Both men looked pointedly at Ashei, who widened her eyes at her comrades.

"No! No way!" She cried.

"Ashei, young Link feels that it is best. It is the least we can do in repayment for his help with our cause."

_"'Our Cause.' Yes. Link helped slay the darkness. He defeated those monsters and saved Queen Zelda and Hyrule's people. Including me." _

Seeing his point but still not happy about being left behind Ashei grumbled some unladylike obscenities about men and heroes.

"Alright then. Link, we should get going." Auru turned to walk away.

Link gave Thea a quick smile. One that said, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. I'll come back." And Thea gave him a worried nod. She knew that he felt that she would be safer here. In the temple, there were barely any monsters. If there were, it only took a single swing of his blade and they were gone. But this was a whole fortress of bulblins. Back when they were chased by those creatures to Lake Hylia and to the Cave of Ordeals, she barely made it alive. It would be both more efficient for him and the Resistance and safer for her if she stayed.

But she felt the dark seed of frustration grow at her inability to fend for herself, and the pang of worry and loneliness from being separated from Link. She was worried he'd get hurt.

"_Enough. You have seen Link. He's capable of protecting himself. He _is _the Hero Chosen by the Gods, is he not?" _She chided herself. And then she watched them go off until they rounded a corner and disappeared behind a plateau.

She heard the scratching of metal and the soft rustle of fabric and turned to see that Ashei had sat down, a child-like pout and narrowed eyes directed at an innocent bush. Thea turned her attention back to the road that she'd seen Link on just moments before and continued to watch, thoughts swirling around her mind in a stew of emotions.

"So, your just gonna stare at the road and wait until he comes back, yeah?" A gruff voice came.

"Huh?" Thea looked down at the other girl.

"I said, are you just going to sit there and wait for your knight in shining armor like some damsel in distress?" Ashei spat.

Thea frowned at her. "Is there anything else to do?" She asked simply in reply. Because there wasn't anything else she could do in such a situation. She didn't want to worry Link and cause his distraction if she went over to the Gorge. She didn't want to be in the way. So all she could do was sit here, wait, and worry.

"I guess not." Was the other's reply. "You pampered nobles, who scream in fright and feint at the sight of a mouse, would be no help in a battle. But I would. I should be out there fighting with my friends, not being a babysitter for some spoiled Vinet heiress because she can't protect herself."

Thea was trained since birth to be calm and level headed. Displays of anger were admonished. All women in the noble society had to act as such. They were to be the wives, mothers, and runners of their households while their husbands went to war. Terrible things may happen, but no matter what, they could not show emotion. Like all of the women in the Noble Circle, Thea was taught the Mask. A tiny, pleasant smile that made it almost impossible to read one's thoughts. She was never any good at it. She wasn't fond of lying, and found it better to communicate one's feelings to help others understand. It fixed the problem, not put a bandage over it. That was another thing that separated her and the others back home. But she had never come across anybody who blatantly insulted her. All servants (besides Gilda, of course) kept their heads down and showed nothing less of the utmost respect towards her and her family. Her father, though she knew did not care for her, was never around to voice his opinions of her. Her mother never insulted her. Only praised her and pushed her to excel. The truth came to mind; she was pampered and spoiled. But that didn't mean she was a bad person. She was beginning to understand the real world for what it was and had already made genuine friends. She was nothing like the other heirs in the Circle. So even though she had never been addressed in such a way, she did not use the Mask. Rather, she talked.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to the outside world yet. I wasn't trained in combat. It was looked down upon for women to learn. Even though I wanted to." She explained.

Ashei stared off into the distance, but Thea knew that she was listening.

"But it seems _you've_ been trained. May I ask how?"

This earned a snort from the other girl and Thea was afraid she'd crossed a line. "What's it to you?" She scoffed.

"I'm just curious. I'm sorry."

"Stop with the apologizing, would yah? All of you nobles are so overly polite, yeah?"

A pause.

"What makes you hate nobles so much?" Thea asked.

Ashei was taken aback. "What makes you think I hate nobles?" She demanded, but the angry glare faded from her eyes once she saw the knowing look Thea gave her. The warrior girl frowned and looked off into the mountains. All around birds were chirping, and the sun beat down on them from above.

"My father's superior was a noble. His name was Emelricus Thiele." Thea recognized that name. Yes, he was the head of the Thiele family. Like the other noble families, besides the Vinet household, had one child who was his son, Emory. Their family was in charge of the Royal Military; they had been for centuries.

"My father was just trying to protect the King. He was on campaign in another country and he was in frigid conditions. My father was lending him a hand so he wouldn't get sick. My father was very good with medicine. Much better than any old doctor. But Emelricus scolded him for acting in such a way towards the King. He was taken care of by the doctors later, but it turns out he died of the very same illness years later."

Yes. Thea remembered when the King died. She and her family, along with the other nobles, were invited to his funeral. She was only nine. And that was the first time she saw the Princess- or Queen, rather. She looked so sad, but within months began to build their country to become even better than it was before. Thea was going to attend her coronation as queen but it was interrupted by the darkness.

"Later, they continued to have little squabbles. My father was honorable and chivalrous. But Emelricus was more interested in his image. My father loved serving the royal family. They were very close. But he was forced to leave the military. So he took me to the mountains. That's where he trained me. I'm a bit of a tomboy because I lived in a secluded place with only a father. I didn't really ever learn proper conversational skills." And she finished.

Thea mulled over Ashei's words. A few silent moments passed.

"You are very lucky."

This caught the warrior off guard, for she turned wide-eyed to the standing noble.

"Your father must have been a great man. He taught you everything he knew and you became a free, strong, independent woman. But me-" She looked to the castle, where the Vinet manor was close by.

"-My father didn't want anything to do with me. It was probably because he wanted a male heir, or the fact that I was going to be married off. Really, I guess I only had a mother, and after she died, I didn't have anybody looking out for me. There was nobody out there to protect me, or teach me about the dangers of the world. The other people in my life, though a few actually cared about me, kept telling me what I should and shouldn't do. That I had a duty to my people and had to marry the Prince of Oromius."

She smiled at Ashei. "So make sure to get to know others before you start throwing insults, okay? And be grateful for everything that is given to you!"

There was silence. It spread out like a thick, gray cloud over the two. And Ashei came out with a question that made Thea's heart freeze.

"Why don't you want Link to know you're betrothed?"

More silence.

Thea was blindsided.

She felt like she'd been hit in the side of the head by the blunt addressing of one of her most recent fears.

"W-What?" Was all the noble could mutter.

"I said-"

"I heard you."

"Then why did you ask me to repeat myself?"

"I was just..."

"I see."

Thea turned her head sharply to Ashei. She herself didn't understand the answer to that question, which she had been asking herself the past few days, and wondered what solution the warrior girl had come up with. Sure, Link was aware that she was a noble. But she had yet to tell him about her marriage arrangements.

But Ashei kept to herself, simply staring down the road that her friends had walked down.

* * *

Link, Auru, and Shad were making quick work of the Bulblins and their fortress. They were greatly disadvantaged, with their quickly built, leaning wooden structure that was toppling onto them as the three of them attacked the base. It was making their job very easy. Bulblins were not the smartest of creatures, but they were loyal to whoever supplied them with money (or whatever they wanted. Link wasn't quite sure, and didn't want to know)

It seemed almost too easy.

Their fortress was literally built on and around the bridge; the one that he and Midna had found during their adventures in Faron Woods and teleported it back to Kakariko Gorge but a year ago.

His two companions had gone off to finish a separate group of enemies, leaving Link to finish the one he was dealing with. It was easy, and soon they were all gone. All one had to do was have a metal shield to defend against flaming arrows and weapons, and a sword, and then they were gone. But Thea did not have a shield or a sword, and was not trained in the least. So he felt it was better to have her stay behind. He was slightly worried though. He feared that the Hunter knew of her whereabouts. She was vulnerable there. But he calmed himself. Ashei was with her, and she was a very capable swordsman. Or swordswoman. Despite this, he would rather it be him guarding her than Ashei.

He ignored the pesky thoughts in his head to focus on his battle.

Something was coming.

A figure was walking through the smoke from the flames.

And then she appeared, covered in the furs of hunted animals, with dark, tanned skin and flaming red hair tied in a pony tail. Her lips were the color of blood, as was her outfit. On her belt was an array of different weapons used for gods knew what. Link spied a few that were used in torture rooms.

Her lips split into a wicked grin. "Found you!" She cheered.

And then their weapons clashed, her pirate sword and his Master Sword. (For he had went back to reclaim it a short while before meeting Thea.)

She was a masterful sword fighter. Link could tell it was the style of the Gerudo. They used sneak attacks, flashy moves, and tricks to confuse their opponents. They were very skilled at trickery and treachery. That was just their way of life. They were born to be pirates and thieves. For a Gerudo to seek other occupations was out of the question.

She was strong. She managed to push him back, leaving him off balance, and then jumped down and swung her feet to trip him. He fell on the ground but before he could get up her sword was to his neck.

"You know that little girlfriend of yours?"

She laughed; it was sort of like an owl screeching. Nothing like Thea's laughter, which was like a singing dove.

Link gritted his teeth and glared down at the sword only inches from his neck. A bead of nervous sweat rolled down his cheek and he redirected his glare at the mention of his friend.

Eyes narrowing and smirk spreading, the Gerudo woman continued, "She's not what she seems."

Link continued to glare.

"Let me tell you about her bloodline."

* * *

**End Note: **

**Some replies to reviews:**

**NobodyXellah: Well thank you very much! I'm glad you like my story! It's those kinds of reviews that let me know I'm doing something right with my Fanfiction! Thanks!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Until next time!**


	12. Heartfelt Reunions

**Author's Note: **

**Welcome back! I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who has reviewed, followed and/or put my story on their favorites list! Thank you all so much! We are exactly one fourth of the way through Dragonflies. I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that! But we're not done yet! There is a lot more adventure ahead for Link, Thea and Tully!**

**Alright, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

Heartfelt Reunions

* * *

Thea waited patiently.

Well, as patiently as she could.

It had been about an hour, and Link and the Resistance had not yet returned. Just standing by the bridge was a bore. Ashei barely gave her the time of day after their little talk. It wasn't a cold shoulder; she was just deep in thought, leaving Thea in an awkward silence.

Thea was diving in and out of such deep thought, like a zora in the glistening Lake Hylia. And those thoughts would wander off to Link. Her mind would cruelly play scenarios in which any number of things could happen to him. Then, she'd pull herself out of her worry and try to focus on other things. But her anxiety was chewing at her heart like a pack of mice. There was nothing she could do about it.

And at that thought, she began to ponder the meaning of her worry. How many days had she known the young hero?

"_Well, there's today, and then I spent two days in Ordon Village, and there was that day I woke up in the field,and the night before. So if I count today, since it's only the afternoon, and that first night as one day, then I've known him for...five days."_

Five days was a very short time to get to know someone, let alone care so much as to worry. She wondered what made her care so much. What was it about him...? She began to list off the things that made him this way.

She trusts him. Well, he _is _the Hero Chosen by the Gods. Obviously he has no hidden agenda. But there's something inherently _good _about him. It was so difficult to explain. Like a word that's on the tip of your tongue that you can't identify, but you know what you mean.

As she was thinking this, there came a bellowing whinny from a horse that made both girls jump. Hooves pounding the ground like thunder, a fiery red horse trotted up to them, carrying somebody she'd forgotten. And everything froze.

She stared up at him.

The man that represented all of her fears and anxiety.

He looked the same. His muscular form was clad in red furs, leather, and metal. His dark brown hair still flopped over his forehead in waves, and his almond-shaped brown eyes still held the glimmer of deception. His thin lips curved charmingly under his slightly large nose. As always, it reminded Thea of the danger lurking beneath.

"Thank goodness I've found you!" His loud, booming voice proclaimed.

Thea, in the wake of shock, fear, and confusion, remained silent, and continued to stare with wide, gray eyes.

His deep brown orbs traveled up and down her body, "What on earth are you wearing? If I didn't know you I would think you a peasant!"

He chuckled. "But you are the same Lady Althea Isabella Vinet."

The Prince of Oromius swung his head this way and that, surveying his surroundings. Thea could imagine this to be second nature to him. She had learned that all Oromians, especially those of royalty and nobility, were excellent hunters. And that brought Thea to the conclusion that he had been looking for her. She cursed her naivete. She'd chosen to ignore her marriage; her destiny. She didn't tell Link, hoping to savor the feeling of freedom for as long as possible, and hoped to the goddesses that it could at least wait until her mission was complete. But she'd turned her back on her duties and pretended that they weren't there. And she'd forgotten that it would always follow her. There was no way to escape the inevitable.

"Wherever is that boy clad in green?" He turned to her. "He was the one who saved you, was he not?"

Gulping, Thea nodded.

Prince Attor smiled. "Poor thing. Such a sweet flower should be preserved and protected, not dragged across this forsaken country on a wild cucco chase!"

The Prince turned his head to the distance, where over the rock walls, was a plume of smoke. "He should never have laid a finger on you. He should have known better than to think nobility could stoop to such levels."

He was talking about Link.

The mention of Link pulled her out of her stupefied state, like surfacing from the cloudy waters of the pond in the last room of the Forest Temple.

Coughing, she brought years of etiquette lessons to the front of her brain. Her spine straightened, her hair was pushed out of her face, her hands clasped, and lastly, her lips and eyes set in the Mask. Yes, she was never good at it, but she found a reason to harden her resolve. She was facing the man whom she'd feared her entire life.

"You highness." Althea called his attention, and he responded by turning his horse to more properly see her, an eyebrow arched in curiosity.

The last time that they had met, she had been the one to sheepishly respond to him. This was the first time that she had addressed him and had been the first to open conversation.

"I must commend you for traveling this far in search of me." She started, though her voice was soft with shyness. She wished she could pinch herself right then and there, but remembered the formalities.

The Prince understood that there was a "but", and his eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of concern, worry and...preparation. Was he expecting her to put up a fight?

"But-" She emphasized the word he knew was coming. "Hyrule is, as you must know, under attack. As unlikely as it is, the duty to save it has been bestowed upon me. The Hero Chosen by the Gods is accompanying me for my protection during my journey. Again, I thank you for your worry and concern. But be at ease."

She paused. "And I must ask of you one thing."

Althea met his eyes. "Please. Will you postpone our marriage until my task is complete?"

She stared into those bottomless eyes for what felt like an eternity. It was like swimming in oil. It stuck to you, made you feel heavy, weakened you, and then you sank to be drowned.

His foot tapped the side of his red horse to force it to walk slowly. He paced with the horse. A ghost of a smile curved in his lips. He closed his eyes in contemplation.

Althea watched on, the Mask still set on her face. But inside, Thea was frozen in pure fear. Something about this man made her terrified. She had yet to put her finger on it.

He stopped.

"You asked me to."

Althea held back a confused gasp.

"Well, since you _asked _me to, then there are two possible replies. And I am allowed to choose freely between the two."

Her heart sank to her feet.

"And I must regret to inform you that I will not postpone our wedding, and you are to come back to Oromius with me." He smirked at her now surprise stricken face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape.

Loosing all formalities Thea took a step back, a hand over her heart. "B-But you cannot!"

He arched an eyebrow again.

Trying to gather her scrambling thoughts, she explained, "If I leave, th-then this whole country will fall!"

"So what?" was the reply.

"'so what'?" Thea repeated, gasping.

"Yes. So what? I do not care about this pitiful country. Oromius has wanted to conquer it for centuries. It is a threatening rival that we would be more than happy to get rid of, even if we are not the ones to destroy it ourselves."

He turned his fur-clad horse to face her. "I will not listen to a Hylian's ideals, and I will not have a woman tell me what to do. As your fiance, I order you to come with me."

That was when Ashei stepped in.

"You just stop right there, yeah?" Reaching her arm around her torso, she gracefully unsheathed her rapier and took a step in front of the noble girl, acting as a protective wall.

Prince Attor gave the knight a condescending glare. "You there, Hylian peasant. If you want to keep your life you will move aside."

Thea noted the change in the Prince's demeanor. When angered, his cool, calm, and charming facade turned wrathfully dangerous. She couldn't even imagine what sort of rage was festering inside of him. And she feared greatly for Ashei.

And the warrior, as the noble was afraid of _and _as she expected, stood her ground, like the stubborn girl she was. "Come on, you! Draw your sword and we'll fight! If I win, you'll leave Thea alone! If you win, I'll be dead! So come on, yeah?"

Prince Attor's lips curled in disgust. "I would never stoop as low as a filthy creature like you to make such a deal. You are Hylian scum _and _a woman. And you have the audacity to believe you can match my power?"

Thea didn't even see him unsheath his sword.

She blinked.

Just _blinked. _

And Ashei was on the ground, an angry red slash seeping into her chest.

"_Ashei!_" Thea cried out in terror.

The young knight's face was ashen, and her eyes were pale with fear and pain. Thea could hear her whisper, the ghost of a sound, "Wh-what h-_happened? _I didn't – even-" And the warrior lost her strength to even speak.

Thea was breathing heavily now. Raking her fingers through her hair in the building stress and apprehension of the situation – also noting the growing dread as Attor continued to approach her slowly- She turned this way and that and hoped to find an exit.

"I suspected as much." The Prince announced. "I knew you didn't want to marry me. From the moment we met I knew you had spirit. I knew you were a dreamer, and an idealist. I assumed you would warm up to me. But I guess I was mistaken."

"Why?" She choked. "Why am I so important to you? Why are you doing this?"

"There are two reasons. Firstly, your father, and the nation of Hyrule, made a promise. That was to give you to me in marriage in exchange for peace. Really, it was a present to quell our blood lust. We Oromians are so strong that your king knew that such a weak army could not protect your country against ours. But my father agreed to your terms. That when you turned seventeen years old, you would come with me back to the homeland and become my wife. There were no exceptions to the contract. Now, it is that time, and I am here to claim Hyrule's offering."

"And the next reason?"

"My honor. I will not allow you to tell me what to do, and I will not have you escape me. And lastly, I will not lose you to some filthy peasant _hero._" He mocked, sheathing his curved sword.

Something stirred within her at his words. Something she had never felt before. And it was _powerful. _

"If you think-" She hissed with clenched teeth, but he was off of his horse and her terror gripped her throat and shoved the words back down to that angry fire in the pit of her stomach. That fire within her immediately flickered out.

Because of _him. _

And then her whole core was once again frozen in icy terror as he walked to her.

He reached a leather hand out, and his controlling touch barely brushed against the fair skin of her wrist when he sucked in a surprised gasp and recoiled his arm back.

Only inches from them was a blur of gleaming steel that separated the Prince and his fiance. Thea felt something warm on her wrist, and looked down in fright to find that there were droplets of red blood on her skin. Right where the Prince was going to grab her. And then looked down on the green grass to find that half of one of his fingers had been severed.

Thea gasped and took a step back, a hand flying up to her mouth at the sight of gore.

"Gah!" But she turned her attention to the cry of the Prince, who'd taken a few steps back. He nursed his missing finger, cursing obscenities in Oromian.

When he was done, he threw a poisonous glare of animosity at Link.

Link.

He was standing firmly in front of her. His eyes were dark, as they always became when he was focused or angry. Thea wasn't quite sure which one describe her friend at the moment. Whatever it was, the wave of intensity coming off of him was so strong it was almost a physical force.

He turned his head to look behind him, his eyes asking if she was alright. She nodded in affirmative, and then his gaze found Ashei. Her breathing came out in shallow, raspy gasps and she stared up at the sky with wide eyes.

Thea knew Link could sense her fear of Prince Attor, and it only seemed to make that dark energy coming off of him more severe.

Thea made the conclusion that he was angry. This was a side to Link she'd never seen before. Link was always gentle. Anger didn't seem like something he could express.

She was wrong.

"So _you_ are the 'great hero chosen by the Hylian goddesses'" He mocked again. What was it that made the Prince use such an insulting tone with Link? He'd never even met him before.

"The 'great savior of Hyrule' right?" He jeered.

He withdrew his sword. "Thanks for protecting her all this time, but I believe you should leave the girl to me."

The grip on Link's sword tightened.

A smirk. "So. You are going to fight then? So be it." Prince Attor took a step forward, but stopped when a high pitched whistle sounded.

They all looked to the injured girl lying on the ground. In her mouth was a strange plant, and she was blowing through it like a grass whistle. From it, a simple tune sounded, and when she was done, a horse's cry called to them in the distance. On the horizon, came Epona, the horse they had lost the very first night this whole adventure began. In the daylight, Thea could properly see the famed horse. She was a light, honey brown, with creamy white hair. As the noble already knew from riding her before, she was a draft horse. Built of endurance and strength.

"What?" the Prince hissed.

And then Link grabbed her hand, and hoisted himself up on the running horse, and she, being dragged for a little white, got her foot in the stirrup and pulled herself up with him and they rode of.

"Damn it!" Prince Attor cried from behind them.

Thea looked behind her to see that Ashei had thrown her rapier by the Prince's red horse, so it fled before their enemy could get on and pursue them. He turned on the weakened knight and raised his sword, but it was blocked by the arrival of Auru and Shad. The image by then was getting too small to see clearly as Link steered Epona in the direction of the Gorge.

* * *

Teodor Vinet the fifth of the noble Vinet household strode through the pristine, stone hallways of his friend's home. He'd heard that five days before, his daughter was attacked by the conqueror called the Hunter, and then went missing. The only person to know why she was targeted was the Queen, and she had refused to release that information through the network of guards she used to communicate since she was a prisoner in her own castle.

But Teodor did not care. His only worry was that she wasn't killed before his majesty Prince Attor found her.

That contract was crucial.

The Oromians were very hot-headed and temperamental, and any slip up could cause the downfall of his beloved country. They already threatened war after the disappearance of Althea, thinking that it was a disrespect of the contract, but the Prince every so graciously offered to look for her himself and bring her back.

That servant Gilda and a few guards uttered something about a boy in green with her. So he must have her hostage in an attempt to sabotage the agreement between the two countries.

"General Emelricus Thiele, Sir Teodor Vinet the fifth has arrived." An announcer proclaimed as the man entered his friend's office.

"Thank you, squire. Teodor, do come in." And he did so.

The office of the great general of the Hylian Military was octagonal, with mahogany bookshelves lining all of the walls. In the center was a desk of the same wood, two simple chairs in front of it, and a great leather chair behind it. There was a silver chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling. The blue carpet held the great symbol of the Royal Military.

Pouring himself tea in a perfectly polished silver cup, Emelricus got straight to the point, as he always did. "So what brings you here? You must have a request for me."

"Yes, old friend."

"What is your wish?"

"I would like to borrow some of you men and, with a few of my own, block the north end of Eldin Bridge."

Emelricus sipped is tea. "Whatever for?"

"There's rumor of a boy in green that has taken the fiance of the Prince of Oromius hostage."

"Boy in green. You don't mean the boy who saved Hyrule from that dreaded darkness, do you?"

"The very one."

"The boy saved Hyrule. I am sure he means no harm."

"Pardon me for saying so, but I cannot agree. I believe he is trying to break the contract between Hyrule and Oromius. The boy is trying to save our great country using an alternative method. He thinks he can overthrow the Hunter _and _ward off Oromian forces by himself; as if it were that simple! The boy should realize that he is sticking his nose into the political and social affairs of Hyrule; something I bet he can barely comprehend."

"So you wish to block him at the Eldin bridge and then bring forces from the other side to capture him? Do you not think the Prince of Oromius is capable of finding your daughter?"

"I _know_ he is capable. I am just worried. Our neighboring country is growing impatient with this nonsense, and I believe it would be better for us to speed up the process of finding her. Once she is properly married and in Oromius, we can focus our energy on attacking the Hunter's forces. Do you not agree with my proclamation?"

A pause. Then a sigh.

"Alright, Teodor. I agree. Your reasons for this action are strong and fortified with evidence."

"Thank you, friend."

Teodor turned on his heel and stepped out of the room, but not before Emerlricus Theile said,

"But there is one thing that perplexes me. The Hunter targeted Lady Vinet. I believe that everything here is connected. Do not forget that, old friend. Things are never that simple."

And that left him with one question,

Where did Althea Isabelle Vinet fit into all of this?

* * *

**End Note: **

**Well now! Attor is indeed a sexist jerk! haha! **

**Replies to reviews:**

**Harvestmoongal2012: Well, thanks! I'm glad that my story is awesome!**

**xXkhang91Xx: Well, I decided to keep Link silent for two reasons. First, I thought it would be unique among other fanfictions if he didn't speak. Second, believed it would be kind of cool to let both Thea and the readers try to interpret Link's actions and expressions, just like players of the games do. I've been trying to mirror that experience into my story, but I'm not quite sure how well it's working! haha! And I would never get upset at any review (As long as it's not a stupid one, which your review was not at all) I really appreciate your input and thoughts! Thanks for the review! **

**So how was it? Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Read and Review!**

**Until next time!**


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